Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: The spatial organization of stem cells into a niche is a key factor for growth and continual tissue renewal during development, sustenance, and regeneration. Stratified epithelia serve as a great context to study the spatial aspects of the stem cell niche and cell lineages by organizing into layers of different cell types. Several types of stratified epithelia develop morphologies with advantageous, protruding structures where stem cells reside, such as rete pegs and palisades of Vogt. Here, multistage, spatial cell lineage models for epithelial stratification are used to study how the stem cell niche influences epithelial morphologies. When the stem cell niche forms along a rigid basal lamina, relatively regular morphologies are maintained. In contrast, stem cell niche formation along a free-moving basal lamina may prompt distorted epithelial morphologies with stem cells accumulating at the tips of fingerlike structures that form. The correspondence between our simulated morphologies and developmental stages of the human epidermis is also explored. Overall, our work provides an understanding of how stratified epithelia may attain distorted morphologies and sheds light on the importance of the spatial aspects of the stem cell niche.
Source: Biophysical Journal
Authors: Jeremy Ovadia, Qing Nie
Institution: University of California, Irvine
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,000
Awards: G1163464347, G1885747215, Differentiation and Stratification during Development: A Joint Computational and Experimental Investigation, G2859553261, G4593182465, Systems Biology of Morphogeneisis and Spatial Information Flow, G5205676648, G5519937807, Mathematical, Computational and Systems Biology, G9000149013, Cancer Center Support Grant
OpenAlex ID: W2018776114