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Updated: Jul 8, 2026
10:08
Pseudofracture: An Acute Peripheral Tissue Trauma Model
Published on: April 18, 2011
Periodic Fracture of Active Tissues
Yue Qian1, Yue Li1, Bo Li2,3,4
1Tsinghua University, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Beijing 100084, China.
Physical Review Letters
|July 7, 2026
Summary
Active tissue fracture, guided by cellular mechanosensing, can create organized multicellular structures. This study reveals how physics and geometry control fracture patterns for tissue self-organization.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Mechanobiology
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- Fracture in engineering materials signifies failure.
- Controlled cracking in biology can regulate tissue development.
- Understanding active tissue fracture is crucial for morphogenesis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a multiscale theory for active tissue fracture.
- To investigate the role of cellular mechanosensing in tissue self-organization.
- To decipher the mechanisms behind spontaneous fracture in cultured tissues.
Main Methods:
- Established a multiscale nonlinear peridynamic theory.
- Incorporated cellular mechanosensing into the model.
- Analyzed fracture patterns in ring-shaped tissue domains.
Main Results:
- Tissues cultured in rings exhibit periodic fracture, forming regularly spaced multicellular aggregates.
- The number of cracks shows nonmonotonic variation with substrate stiffness.
- Crack patterns transition from ordered radial cracking in narrow tissues to randomized branching in broader tissues due to stress anisotropy.
Conclusions:
- Physics, geometry, and cellular mechanosensing synergize to control active tissue fracture.
- This interplay enables tissue-level organization and morphogenesis.
- Identified key factors governing the characteristic size of tissue fracture.
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