Hydraulic and electric control of cell spheroids

Bioelectric stimulation controls tissue shape and size

Epithelial tissues sheath organs and electro-mechanically regulate ion and water transport to regulate development, homeostasis, and hydrostatic organ pressure. Here, we demonstrate how external electrical stimulation allows us to control these processes in living tissues. Specifically, we electrically stimulate hollow, 3D kidneyoids and gut organoids and find that physiological-strength electrical stimulation of ∼ 5 - 10 V/cm powerfully inflates hollow tissues; a process we call electro-inflation. Electro-inflation is mediated by increased ion flux through ion channels/transporters and triggers subsequent osmotic water flow into the lumen, generating hydrostatic pressure that competes against cytoskeletal tension. Our computational studies suggest that electro-inflation is strongly driven by field-induced ion crowding on the outer surface of the tissue. Electrically stimulated tissues also break symmetry in 3D resulting from electrotaxis and affecting tissue shape. The ability of electrical cues to regulate tissue size and shape emphasizes the role and importance of the electrical micro-environment for living tissues.

Shaping epithelial lumina under pressure

The formation of fluid- or gas-filled lumina surrounded by epithelial cells pervades development and disease. We review the balance between lumen pressure and mechanical forces from the surrounding cells that governs lumen formation. We illustrate the mechanical side of this balance in several examples of increasing complexity, and discuss how recent work is beginning to elucidate how nonlinear and active mechanics and anisotropic biomechanical structures must conspire to overcome the isotropy of pressure to form complex, non-spherical lumina.

Hydrostatic pressure as a driver of cell and tissue morphogenesis

Morphogenesis, the process by which tissues develop into functional shapes, requires coordinated mechanical forces. Most current literature ascribes contractile forces derived from actomyosin networks as the major driver of tissue morphogenesis. Recent works from diverse species have shown that pressure derived from fluids can generate deformations necessary for tissue morphogenesis. In this review, we discuss how hydrostatic pressure is generated at the cellular and tissue level and how the pressure can cause deformations. We highlight and review findings demonstrating the mechanical roles of pressures from fluid-filled lumens and viscous gel-like components of the extracellular matrix. We also emphasise the interactions and mechanochemical feedbacks between extracellular pressures and tissue behaviour in driving tissue remodelling. Lastly, we offer perspectives on the open questions in the field that will further our understanding to uncover new principles of tissue organisation during development.

Network model of active elastic shells swollen by hydrostatic pressure

Many organisms have an elastic skeleton that consists of a closed shell of epithelial cells that is filled with fluid, and can actively regulate both elastic forces in the shell and hydrostatic pressure inside it. In this work we introduce a simple network model of such pressure-stabilized active elastic shells in which cross-links are represented by material points connected by non-linear springs of some given equilibrium lengths and spring constants. We mimic active contractile forces in the system by changing the parameters of randomly chosen springs and use computer simulations to study the resulting local and global deformation dynamics of the network. We elucidate the statistical properties of these deformations by computing the corresponding distributions and correlation functions. We show that pressure-induced stretching of the network introduces coupling between its local and global behavior: while the network opposes the contraction of each excited spring and affects the amplitude and relaxation time of its deformation, random local excitations give rise to contraction of the network and to fluctuations of its surface area.

Morphogenetic Roles of Hydrostatic Pressure in Animal Development

During organismal development, organs and systems are built following a genetic blueprint that produces structures capable of performing specific physiological functions. Interestingly, we have learned that the physiological activities of developing tissues also contribute to their own morphogenesis. Specifically, physiological activities such as fluid secretion and cell contractility generate hydrostatic pressure that can act as a morphogenetic force. Here, we first review the role of hydrostatic pressure in tube formation during animal development and discuss mathematical models of lumen formation. We then illustrate specific roles of the notochord as a hydrostatic scaffold in anterior-posterior axis development in chordates. Finally, we cover some examples of how fluid flows influence morphogenetic processes in other developmental contexts. Understanding how fluid forces act during development will be key for uncovering the self-organizing principles that control morphogenesis.

Extracting multiple surfaces from 3D microscopy images in complex biological tissues with the Zellige software tool

Background

Efficient tools allowing the extraction of 2D surfaces from 3D-microscopy data are essential for studies aiming to decipher the complex cellular choreography through which epithelium morphogenesis takes place during development. Most existing methods allow for the extraction of a single and smooth manifold of sufficiently high signal intensity and contrast, and usually fail when the surface of interest has a rough topography or when its localization is hampered by other surrounding structures of higher contrast. Multiple surface segmentation entails laborious manual annotations of the various surfaces separately.

Results

As automating this task is critical in studies involving tissue-tissue or tissue-matrix interaction, we developed the Zellige software, which allows the extraction of a non-prescribed number of surfaces of varying inclination, contrast, and texture from a 3D image. The tool requires the adjustment of a small set of control parameters, for which we provide an intuitive interface implemented as a Fiji plugin.

Conclusions

As a proof of principle of the versatility of Zellige, we demonstrate its performance and robustness on synthetic images and on four different types of biological samples, covering a wide range of biological contexts.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12915-022-01378-0.

Active T1 transitions in cellular networks

In amorphous solids as in tissues, neighbor exchanges can relax local stresses and allow the material to flow. In this paper, we use an anisotropic vertex model to study T1 rearrangements in polygonal cellular networks. We consider two different physical realizations of the active anisotropic stresses: (i) anisotropic bond tension and (ii) anisotropic cell stress. Interestingly, the two types of active stress lead to patterns of relative orientation of T1 transitions and cell elongation that are different. Our work suggests that these two realizations of anisotropic active stresses can be observed in vivo. We describe and explain these results through the lens of a continuum description of the tissue as an anisotropic active material. We furthermore discuss the energetics of the dynamic tissue and express the energy balance in terms of internal elastic energy, mechanical work, chemical work and heat. This allows us to define active T1 transitions that can perform mechanical work while consuming chemical energy.

Nonlinear rheology of cellular networks

Morphogenesis depends crucially on the complex rheological properties of cell tissues and on their ability to maintain mechanical integrity while rearranging at long times. In this paper, we study the rheology of polygonal cellular networks described by a vertex model in the presence of fluctuations. We use a triangulation method to decompose shear into cell shape changes and cell rearrangements. Considering the steady-state stress under constant shear, we observe nonlinear shear-thinning behavior at all magnitudes of the fluctuations, and an even stronger nonlinear regime at lower values of the fluctuations. We successfully capture this nonlinear rheology by a mean-field model that describes the tissue in terms of cell elongation and cell rearrangements. We furthermore introduce anisotropic active stresses in the vertex model and analyze their effect on rheology. We include this anisotropy in the mean-field model and show that it recapitulates the behavior observed in the simulations. Our work clarifies how tissue rheology is related to stochastic cell rearrangements and provides a simple biophysical model to describe biological tissues. Further, it highlights the importance of nonlinearities when discussing tissue mechanics.

Tissue hydraulics: Physics of lumen formation and interaction

Lumen formation plays an essential role in the morphogenesis of tissues during development. Here we review the physical principles that play a role in the growth and coarsening of lumens. Solute pumping by the cell, hydraulic flows driven by differences of osmotic and hydrostatic pressures, balance of forces between extracellular fluids and cell-generated cytoskeletal forces, and electro-osmotic effects have been implicated in determining the dynamics and steady-state of lumens. We use the framework of linear irreversible thermodynamics to discuss the relevant force, time and length scales involved in these processes. We focus on order of magnitude estimates of physical parameters controlling lumen formation and coarsening.