Rapid changes in tissue mechanics regulate cell behaviour in the developing embryonic brain.
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Authors
Dimov, Ivan B
Foster, Sarah K
Publication Date
2019-01-15Journal Title
eLife
ISSN
2050-084X
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
Volume
8
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Physical Medium
Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Thompson, A. J., Pillai, E., Dimov, I. B., Foster, S. K., Holt, C., & Franze, K. (2019). Rapid changes in tissue mechanics regulate cell behaviour in the developing embryonic brain.. eLife, 8 https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.39356
Abstract
Tissue mechanics is important for development; however, the spatio-temporal dynamics of in vivo tissue stiffness is still poorly understood. We here developed tiv-AFM, combining time-lapse in vivo atomic force microscopy with upright fluorescence imaging of embryonic tissue, to show that during development local tissue stiffness changes significantly within tens of minutes. Within this time frame, a stiffness gradient arose in the developing Xenopus brain, and retinal ganglion cell axons turned to follow this gradient. Changes in local tissue stiffness were largely governed by cell proliferation, as perturbation of mitosis diminished both the stiffness gradient and the caudal turn of axons found in control brains. Hence, we identified a close relationship between the dynamics of tissue mechanics and developmental processes, underpinning the importance of time-resolved stiffness measurements.
Keywords
Brain, Axons, Retinal Ganglion Cells, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Animals, Xenopus laevis, Cell Count, Mitosis, Biomechanical Phenomena, Optic Tract, Cell Body
Sponsorship
MRC (G1100312)
BBSRC (BB/M021394/1)
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R21HD080585)
BBSRC (BB/N006402/1)
European Research Council (322817)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) ERC (772426)
Wellcome Trust (099743/Z/12/Z)
EPSRC (EP/L015978/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.39356
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/288492