Maintaining the proliferative cell niche in multicellular models of epithelia

• Main Authors: Crampin, E. (Author), Miller, C. (Author), Osborne, J.M (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Academic Press 2021
• Subjects: Agent-based models; article; bioinformatics; biology; cell; cell density; cell division; Cell Division; cell proliferation; Computational biology; daughter cell; Epidermal Cells; Epidermis; epidermis cell; Epithelial Cells; epithelium; Epithelium; epithelium cell; homeostasis; human; Humans; interfollicular epidermis; mitosis; Mitosis; morphology; numerical model; spindle apparatus; Spindle Apparatus; stratum basale (epidermis)
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 The maintenance of the proliferative cell niche is critical to epithelial tissue morphology and function. In this paper we investigate how current modelling methods can result in the erroneous loss of proliferative cells from the proliferative cell niche. Using an established model of the inter-follicular epidermis we find there is a limit to the proliferative cell densities that can be maintained in the basal layer (the niche) if we do not include additional mechanisms to stop the loss of proliferative cells from the niche. We suggest a new methodology that enables maintenance of a desired homeostatic population of proliferative cells in the niche: a rotational force is applied to the two daughter cells during the mitotic phase of division to enforce a particular division direction. We demonstrate that this new methodology achieves this goal. This methodology reflects the regulation of the orientation of cell division. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd