title: Organization of the cytokeratin network in an epithelial cell.
abstract: The cytoskeleton is a dynamic three-dimensional structure mainly located in the cytoplasm. It is involved in many cell functions such as mechanical signal transduction and maintenance of cell integrity. Among the three cytoskeletal components, intermediate filaments (the cytokeratin in epithelial cells) are the best candidates for this mechanical role. A model of the establishment of the cytokeratin network of an epithelial cell is proposed to study the dependence of its structural organization on extracellular mechanical environment. To implicitly describe the latter and its effects on the intracellular domain, we use mechanically regulated protein synthesis. Our model is a hybrid of a partial differential equation of parabolic type, governing the evolution of the concentration of cytokeratin, and a set of stochastic differential equations describing the dynamics of filaments. Each filament is described by a stochastic differential equation that reflects both the local interactions with the environment and the non-local interactions via the past history of the filament. A three-dimensional simulation model is derived from this mathematical model. This simulation model is then used to obtain examples of cytokeratin network architectures under given mechanical conditions, and to study the influence of several parameters.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Analyse d'Images en Pathologie Cellulaire, Institut Universitaire d'Hématologie, Hôpital Saint Louis, 1 Avenue Claude Vellefaux, 75475 Paris, France. sportet@phys.ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Portet
authors.forename: Ovide
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Arino
authors.forename: Jany
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vassy
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schoëvaërt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D007382:Intermediate Filaments / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007633:Keratins / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D017146:Models, Organizational
chemical_list: D007633:Keratins