Optimal mechanical interactions direct multicellular network formation on elastic substrates
Data files
Oct 19, 2023 version files 79.77 MB
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Figure_2.xlsx
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Figure_3.xlsx
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Figure_4_b.xlsx
79.19 MB
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Figure_4_c.xlsx
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Figure_5_Percolation_Exp.xlsx
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Figure_5_ShapeFactor_Exp.xlsx
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Figure_5_ShapeFactorAvg_Sim.xlsx
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Figure_6_ab.xlsx
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Figure_6_c.xlsx
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Figure_6_d.xlsx
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README.md
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Mar 22, 2024 version files 79.77 MB
Abstract
Cells self-organize into functional, ordered structures during tissue morphogenesis, a process that is evocative of colloidal self-assembly into engineered soft materials. Understanding how intercellular mechanical interactions may drive the formation of ordered and functional multicellular structures is important in developmental biology and tissue engineering. Here, by combining an agent-based model for contractile cells on elastic substrates with endothelial cell culture experiments, we show that substrate deformation–mediated mechanical interactions between cells can cluster and align them into branched networks. Motivated by the structure and function of vasculogenic networks, we predict how measures of network connectivity like percolation probability and fractal dimension as well as local morphological features including junctions, branches, and rings depend on cell contractility and density and on substrate elastic properties including stiffness and compressibility. We predict and confirm with experiments that cell network formation is substrate stiffness dependent, being optimal at intermediate stiffness. We also show the agreement between experimental data and predicted cell cluster types by mapping a combined phase diagram in cell density substrate stiffness. Overall, we show that long-range, mechanical interactions provide an optimal and general strategy for multicellular self-organization, leading to more robust and efficient realizations of space-spanning networks than through just local intercellular interactions.
README: Optimal mechanical interactions direct multicellular network formation on elastic substrates
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kd51c5bcv
This data set contains the data supporting the claims related to the title article. They are those, specifically, used to construct the figures seen throughout the main text.
Description of the data and file structure
The data will be parsed according to the figure in the main text to which they correspond.
Figure 2 - Final configurations of the snapshots shown in figure 2. Columns from left to right indicate the x-position, y-position, and dipole angle for the nine stated parameter values as separate labeled sheets.
Figure 3 - Percolation values in A - Packing Fraction (\phi) space for \nu = 0.1, \nu = 0.5, and sticky disks.
Figure 4_b - Binary pixel intensity map for stiffness values 200Pa, 4.5kPa, and 10kPa.
Figure 4_c - Experimental percolation values for sub-boxed images.
Figure 5_Percolation_Exp - Experimental percolation distributions.
Figure 5_ShapeFactor_Exp - Experimental shape factor distributions. Column 1 indicates size of cluster in pixels, column two is the corresponding SF value.
Figure 5_ShapeFactorAvg_Sim - Average shape factor values from simulations in N-E space where A0 = 18.1 and E* = 4.5kPa.
Figure 6_ab - Branch length distributions in pixels for three runs of each parameter value. To obtain the corresponding plots in the paper, we first divide by 40 as this roughly corresponds to the size of a simulation cell. For distributions, we do not consider branches less than 40.
Figure 6_c - Ring size distribution for characteristic configurations of four parameter values corresponding to systems on the shoulder of the percolation transition and those well past the transition for two different values of \nu. To obtain the corresponding plots in the paper, we first divide by 402 as 40 roughly corresponds to the size of a simulation cell. First column indicates ring label. Second column indicates enclosed area in pixels.
Figure 6_d - Connectivity map for all nodes in the post skeletonized simulation images for the four parameters corresponding to systems on the shoulder of the percolation transition and those well past the transition for two different values of \nu. First and second column represent the x and y positions of a node, respectively. Third and fourth column represent the x and y positions, respectively, of a connected node. The fifth and sixth columns indicate the corresponding arc length and Euclidean length, respectively, of the branch connecting those nodes.