Network formation of tissue cells via preferential attraction to elongated structures

Abstract

Vascular and non-vascular cells often form an interconnected network in vitro, similar to the early vascular bed of warm blooded embryos. Our time-lapse recordings show that the network forms by extending sprouts, i.e., multicellular linear segments. To explain the emergence of such structures, we propose a simple model of preferential attraction to stretched cells. Numerical simulations reveal that the model evolves into a quasi-stationary pattern containing linear segments, which interconnect above the critical volume fraction of 0.2. In the quasi-stationary state the generation of new branches offset the coarsening driven by surface tension. In agreement with empirical data, the characteristic size of the resulting polygonal pattern is density-independent within a wide range of volume fractions.

References in corpus (2)

• Continuum percolation of wireless ad hoc communication networks
• Arrested phase separation in a short-ranged attractive colloidal system: A numerical study

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Continuous macroscopic limit of a discrete stochastic model for interaction of living cells
• Rheology of colloidal microphases in a model with competing interactions