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Small-scale demixing in confluent biological tissues.

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Area of Science:

  • Cell biology
  • Biophysics
  • Tissue engineering

Background:

  • Differential adhesion drives demixing in fluid particle mixtures.
  • Confluent biological tissues present a different system for studying cell sorting.
  • Understanding cell mixing is crucial for developmental biology and tissue regeneration.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether differential cell shape or size drives demixing in confluent epithelial tissues.
  • To compare the behavior of biological tissues with fluid particle mixtures.
  • To explore the phenomenon of micro-demixing in epithelial monolayers.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a vertex model for theoretical analysis of cell interactions.
  • Conducted experiments on keratinocyte monolayers, including mixtures of wild-type and E-cadherin-deficient cells.
  • Analyzed T1 transitions to understand energy barriers for cell neighbor exchanges.

Main Results:

  • Bidisperse vertex model mixtures robustly mix on large lengthscales, contrary to particle mixture behavior.
  • Cell shape disparity induces slight demixing over short distances, termed micro-demixing.
  • Experimental results with keratinocytes align with the predicted micro-demixing phenomenon.

Conclusions:

  • Confluent epithelial tissues exhibit robust mixing at large scales, suggesting mechanisms beyond simple differential adhesion.
  • Micro-demixing driven by cell shape disparity may play a role in subtle biological patterning.
  • Progenitor cells can integrate into developing tissues, mixing until specific cell-cell recognition mechanisms emerge.