Publication: Combining laser microsurgery and finite element modeling to assess cell-level epithelial mechanics
All || By Area || By Year| Title | Combining laser microsurgery and finite element modeling to assess cell-level epithelial mechanics | Authors/Editors* | M.S. Hutson, J. Veldhuis, X. Ma, H.E. Lynch, P.G. Cranston, G.W. Brodland |
|---|---|
| Where published* | Biophysical Journal |
| How published* | Journal |
| Year* | 2009 |
| Volume | 97 |
| Number | |
| Pages | 3075-3085 |
| Publisher | |
| Keywords | |
| Link | |
| Abstract |
Laser microsurgery and finite element modeling are used to determine the cell-level mechanics of the amnioserosaâa morphogenetically crucial epithelium on the dorsal surface of fruit fly embryos (Drosophila melanogaster). In the experiments, a tightly focused laser ablates a subcellular hole (1 μm in diameter) that passes clean through the epithelium. The surrounding cells recoil from the wound site with a large range of initial recoil velocities. These depend on the embryo's developmental stage and the subcellular wound site. The initial recoil (up to 0.1 s) is well reproduced by a base finite element model, which assumes a uniform effective viscosity inside the cells, a constant tension along each cell-cell boundary, and a large, potentially anisotropic, far-field stressâone that far exceeds the stress equivalent of the cell-edge tensions. After 0.1 s, the experimental recoils slow dramatically. This observation can be reproduced by adding viscoelastic rods along cell edges or as a fine prestressed mesh parallel to the apical and basal membranes of the cell. The mesh also reproduces a number of double-wounding experiments in which successive holes are drilled in a single cell. |
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