2023/10/08 by Fernanda Pérez-Verdugo, Pérez-Verdugo, Fernanda, Samuel Banks +3 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Engineering · #3D Printing in Biomedical Research #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Tissues and Organs (q-bio.TO) #thermodynamics and calorimetric analyses
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.04950
openalex publication_date 2023/10/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Pulsatory activity patterns, driven by mechanochemical feedback, are prevalent in many biological systems. Here we present a theoretical framework to elucidate the mechanical origin and regulation of pulsatile activity patterns within multicellular tissues. We show that a simple mechanical feedback at the level of individual cells - activation of contractility upon stretch and subsequent inactivation upon turnover of active elements - is sufficient to explain the emergence of quiescent states, long-range wave propagation, and traveling activity pulse at the tissue-level. We find that the transition between a propagating pulse and a wave is driven by the competition between timescales associated with cellular mechanical response and geometrical disorder in the tissue. This sheds light on the fundamental role of cell packing geometry on tissue excitability and spatial propagation of activity patterns.