title: On the mechanochemical theory of biological pattern formation with application to vasculogenesis.
abstract: We first describe the Murray-Oster mechanical theory of pattern formation, the biological basis of which is experimentally well documented. The model quantifies the interaction of cells and the extracellular matrix via the cell-generated forces. The model framework is described in quantitative detail. Vascular endothelial cells, when cultured on gelled basement membrane matrix, rapidly aggregate into clusters while deforming the matrix into a network of cord-like structures tessellating the planar culture. We apply the mechanical theory of pattern formation to this culture system and show that neither strain-biased anisotropic cell traction nor cell migration are necessary for pattern formation: isotropic, strain-stimulated cell traction is sufficient to form the observed patterns. Predictions from the model were confirmed experimentally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Washington, Box 352420, Seattle, WA 98105-2420, USA. murrayjd@amath.washington.edu
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Murray
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002633:Chemotaxis; D003094:Collagen; D003260:Contact Inhibition; D004058:Diffusion; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004548:Elasticity; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D005109:Extracellular Matrix; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D007797:Laminin; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000166:cytology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D011509:Proteoglycans; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D004338:Drug Combinations; D007797:Laminin; D011509:Proteoglycans; C059485:matrigel; D003094:Collagen