Cells around the corner

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Murali, Aniruddh, Awasthi, Prasoon, Endresen, Kirsten, Goszczak, Arkadiusz, Serra, Francesca
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Murali, Aniruddh
Awasthi, Prasoon
Endresen, Kirsten
Goszczak, Arkadiusz
Serra, Francesca
author_facet Murali, Aniruddh
Awasthi, Prasoon
Endresen, Kirsten
Goszczak, Arkadiusz
Serra, Francesca
contents The study of spindle-like cells as nematic liquid crystals has led to remarkable insights in the understanding of tissue organization and morphogenesis. In the characterization of this anomalous liquid crystal material, we focus on the energetic cost of splay and bend deformations, in order to determine the elastic anisotropy of the material, i.e. the ratio of the elastic constants associated with splay and bend. We explore the behavior of monolayers of cells in proximity to corners, where cells arrange in splay or bend configuration, strongly dependent on the amplitude of the wedge angle. The angle at which splay and bend deformations are equally likely is determined by the ratio between splay and bend elastic constants. We also show that the splay and bend deformations under confinement can be well approximated using equilibrium liquid crystal theory and statistical mechanics. Finally, our data suggest that for fibroblast cells the common approximation of equal bend and splay constant is valid.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_07517
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cells around the corner
Murali, Aniruddh
Awasthi, Prasoon
Endresen, Kirsten
Goszczak, Arkadiusz
Serra, Francesca
Soft Condensed Matter
The study of spindle-like cells as nematic liquid crystals has led to remarkable insights in the understanding of tissue organization and morphogenesis. In the characterization of this anomalous liquid crystal material, we focus on the energetic cost of splay and bend deformations, in order to determine the elastic anisotropy of the material, i.e. the ratio of the elastic constants associated with splay and bend. We explore the behavior of monolayers of cells in proximity to corners, where cells arrange in splay or bend configuration, strongly dependent on the amplitude of the wedge angle. The angle at which splay and bend deformations are equally likely is determined by the ratio between splay and bend elastic constants. We also show that the splay and bend deformations under confinement can be well approximated using equilibrium liquid crystal theory and statistical mechanics. Finally, our data suggest that for fibroblast cells the common approximation of equal bend and splay constant is valid.
title Cells around the corner
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.07517