Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Blood vessels expand and contract actively as they continuously experience dynamic external stresses from blood flow. The mechanical response of the vessel wall is that of a composite material: its mechanical properties depend on its cellular components, which change dynamically as the cells respond to external stress. Mapping the relationship between these underlying cellular processes and emergent tissue mechanics is an ongoing challenge, particularly in endothelial cells. Here we assess the mechanics and cellular dynamics of an endothelial tube using a microstretcher that mimics the native environment of blood vessels. The characterization of the instantaneous monolayer elasticity reveals a strain-stiffening, actin-dependent and substrate-responsive behaviour. After a physiological pressure increase, the tissue displays a fluid-like expansion, with the reorientation of cell shape and actin fibres. We introduce a mechanical model that considers the actin fibres as a network in the nematic phase and couples their dynamics with active and elastic fibre tension. The model accurately describes the response to the pressure of endothelial tubes.
Source: Nature Physics
Institutions: University of Geneva, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, École Polytechnique, Laboratoire d'Hydrodynamique de l'École polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Inserm, Laboratoire d'Optique et Biosciences, Physics of Life, Technische Universität Dresden, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $12,690
Awards: Imagerie et reconstruction multiéchelles de la morphogenèse. (Plateforme d'innovation technologique et méthodologique pour l'imagerie in vivo et la reconstruction des dynamiques multiéchelles de la morphogenèse), Active patterned surfaces and morphogenesis of biological tissues, G381665449, G7240651115, G7450971477, G993971353
OpenAlex ID: W4409565507