上皮細(xì)胞在基底上因受彈性、邊緣和界面三個(gè)效應(yīng)的共同作用，可以形成形態(tài)豐富的粘著單層。細(xì)胞通過粘著斑感受其外界環(huán)境，可看作是細(xì)胞與基質(zhì)之間的機(jī)械連接。之前的力生物學(xué)研究主要集中于單個(gè)細(xì)胞，而來自美國賓州大學(xué)的張宿林教授等卻探索了多細(xì)胞的受力反應(yīng)，探討了單層細(xì)胞作為整體如何傳遞和分配牽引力。他們基于分子的熱力學(xué)模型、單層-底物彈性的整合和力-介導(dǎo)的粘著形成，建立了熱力學(xué)模型，提出了粘著形成機(jī)制，并通過顯微觀察牽引力作用等實(shí)驗(yàn)測(cè)量方法來驗(yàn)證該模型的預(yù)測(cè)結(jié)果。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，細(xì)胞和基底之間的耦合（通過粘附分子）屬于高度非線性耦合；細(xì)胞外牽引力和細(xì)胞間張力與細(xì)胞單層尺寸相關(guān)，也與基質(zhì)剛度有關(guān)，提示細(xì)胞內(nèi)、外分子之間存在相互信息交流；在細(xì)胞單層邊緣，粘著斑通過與細(xì)胞外基質(zhì)的相互作用產(chǎn)生了強(qiáng)大牽引力，而在細(xì)胞單層的中央，細(xì)胞應(yīng)激水平上升的同時(shí)僅遭受到較低牽引力。這些結(jié)果將有助于解釋局部環(huán)境如何影響細(xì)胞決策，也將促進(jìn)上皮組織中諸如形態(tài)發(fā)生或集體遷移等更為復(fù)雜問題的研究。綜上，該模型為多用途計(jì)算框架奠定了堅(jiān)實(shí)的基礎(chǔ)，可用來揭示多細(xì)胞上皮形態(tài)發(fā)生和疾病的分子起源。

Active cell-matrix coupling regulates cellular force landscapes of cohesive epithelial monolayers

Tiankai Zhao,Yao Zhang,Qiong Wei,Xuechen Shi,Peng Zhao,Long-Qing Chen&Sulin Zhang

Abstract Epithelial cells can assemble into cohesive monolayers with rich morphologies on substrates due to competition between elastic, edge, and interfacial effects. Here we present a molecularly based thermodynamic model, integrating monolayer and substrate elasticity, and force-mediated focal adhesion formation, to elucidate the active biochemical regulation over the cellular force landscapes in cohesive epithelial monolayers, corroborated by microscopy and immunofluorescence studies. The predicted extracellular traction and intercellular tension are both monolayer size and substrate stiffness dependent, suggestive of cross-talks between intercellular and extracellular activities. Our model sets a firm ground toward a versatile computational framework to uncover the molecular origins of morphogenesis and disease in multicellular epithelia.