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Updated: Sep 18, 2025
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A Novel Stretching Platform for Applications in Cell and Tissue Mechanobiology
Published on: June 3, 2014
11.9K
Splay and bend deformations in cells near corners
Aniruddh Murali1, Prasoon Awasthi1, Kirsten Endresen2
1Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, Denmark. serra@sdu.dk.
Soft Matter
|June 26, 2025
Summary
Spindle-like cells, acting as liquid crystals, organize tissue development. For fibroblast cells, splay and bend elastic constants are approximately equal, simplifying models of tissue morphogenesis.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Cell Biology
- Materials Science
Background:
- Spindle-like cells exhibit nematic liquid crystal properties.
- Understanding tissue organization and morphogenesis relies on cell behavior.
- Elastic properties govern cell deformation and arrangement.
Purpose of the Study:
- Determine the elastic anisotropy of cell monolayers.
- Investigate the energetic costs of splay and bend deformations.
- Analyze cell configurations near corners to understand elastic constants.
Main Methods:
- Characterizing cell monolayers as nematic liquid crystals.
- Analyzing cell arrangements in response to varying wedge angles.
- Calculating the ratio of splay to bend elastic constants.
Main Results:
- Cell configuration (splay or bend) depends on wedge angle amplitude.
- Identified the specific angle where splay and bend deformations are equally probable.
- The ratio of bend to splay elastic constants was determined for fibroblast cells.
Conclusions:
- The common approximation of equal splay and bend constants is valid for fibroblast cells.
- This finding simplifies the understanding of tissue morphogenesis.
- Cellular liquid crystal behavior offers insights into collective cell organization.
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