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Rapid changes in tissue mechanics regulate cell behaviour in the developing embryonic brain.

Amelia J Thompson1, Eva K Pillai1, Ivan B Dimov1

  • 1Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

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|January 16, 2019
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Developing tissue mechanics is crucial for embryonic development. New time-lapse atomic force microscopy reveals rapid changes in tissue stiffness, guiding cell behavior during development.

Keywords:
atomic force microscopyaxon guidancedevelopmental biologydurotaxismechanicsmechanotransductionphysics of living systemsstiffnessxenopus

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • Tissue mechanics plays a vital role in embryonic development.
  • The dynamic changes in tissue stiffness over time and space in living organisms are not well understood.
  • Understanding these dynamics is key to deciphering developmental processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and utilize a novel technique for measuring time-resolved in vivo tissue stiffness.
  • To investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of tissue stiffness during embryonic development.
  • To explore the relationship between tissue mechanics and cell behavior, specifically axon guidance.

Main Methods:

  • Development of time-lapse in vivo atomic force microscopy (tiv-AFM).
  • Integration of tiv-AFM with upright fluorescence imaging for simultaneous mechanical and visual data acquisition.
  • Perturbation of cell mitosis to assess its impact on tissue stiffness and axon behavior.

Main Results:

  • Local tissue stiffness changes significantly within tens of minutes during development.
  • A stiffness gradient emerged in the developing *Xenopus* brain.
  • Retinal ganglion cell axons were observed to follow this stiffness gradient.
  • Cell proliferation was identified as a major driver of stiffness changes; inhibiting mitosis disrupted the gradient and axon turning.

Conclusions:

  • Tissue mechanics exhibit rapid, dynamic changes crucial for embryonic development.
  • A direct link exists between time-resolved tissue stiffness dynamics and developmental processes like axon guidance.
  • The developed tiv-AFM technique provides unprecedented insights into the interplay between mechanical forces and biological development.