title: Propagating Stress Waves During Epithelial Expansion.
abstract: Coordinated motion of cell monolayers during epithelial wound healing and tissue morphogenesis involves mechanical stress generation. Here we propose a model for the dynamics of epithelial expansion that couples mechanical deformations in the tissue to contractile activity and polarization in the cells. A new ingredient of our model is a feedback between local strain, polarization, and contractility that naturally yields a mechanism for viscoelasticity and effective inertia in the cell monolayer. Using a combination of analytical and numerical techniques, we demonstrate that our model quantitatively reproduces many experimental findings [Nat. Phys. 8, 628 (2012)], including the buildup of intercellular stresses, and the existence of traveling mechanical waves guiding the oscillatory monolayer expansion.
authors.affiliation: James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Shiladitya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.
authors.forename: Kazage J C
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Utuje
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.|Syracuse Biomaterials Institute, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.
authors.forename: M Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Marchetti