Force propagation between epithelial cell doublets

Cell-generated forces play a major role in coordinating the large-scale behavior of cell assemblies, in particular during development, wound healing and cancer. Mechanical signals propagate faster than biochemical signals but can have similar effects, especially in epithelial tissues with strong cell-cell adhesion. However, a quantitative description of the transmission chain from force generation in a sender cell, force propagation across cell-cell boundaries, and the concomitant response of receiver cells is missing. For a quantitative analysis of this important situation, here we propose a minimal model system of two epithelial cells on an H-pattern (\"cell doublet\"). After optogenetically activating RhoA, a major regulator of cell contractility, in the sender cell, we measure the mechanical response of the receiver cell by traction force and monolayer stress microscopies. In general, we find that the receiver cells show an active response so that the cell doublet forms a coherent uni..., Data was acquired with a Nikon Ti2 epifluorescence microscope. The first layer of analysis was performed with a homemade TFM code and the resulting Traction Force Maps were analysed with code available on https://github.com/ArturRuppel/ForceTransmissionInDoublets,

细胞产生的力在调控细胞集合体的宏观行为中发挥着核心作用，尤其在发育进程、伤口愈合及癌症发生过程中。机械信号的传播速率快于生化信号，但二者可产生相似的生物学效应，尤其是在具备强细胞间黏附（cell-cell adhesion）的上皮组织（epithelial tissues）中。然而，目前仍缺乏针对从发送细胞内的力产生、跨细胞边界的力传播，到接收细胞伴随响应这一完整传递链的定量描述。为对这一重要研究场景开展定量分析，本研究构建了一种基于H型图案（H-pattern）的双上皮细胞极简模型系统，即“细胞对（cell doublet）”。在光遗传学激活发送细胞内的细胞收缩核心调控因子RhoA后，我们通过牵引力显微镜（traction force microscopy）与单层应力显微镜（monolayer stress microscopy）测定了接收细胞的力学响应。总体而言，我们观测到接收细胞会产生主动响应，使得该细胞对形成连贯的单[原文内容未完成]。实验数据通过尼康Ti2（Nikon Ti2）落射荧光显微镜采集获得。第一层分析流程采用自制的TFM代码完成，所得牵引力映射图通过公开于https://github.com/ArturRuppel/ForceTransmissionInDoublets的代码进行分析。