Active elastic thin shell theory for cellular deformations

作者:Berthoumieux Helene*; Maitre Jean Leon; Heisenberg Carl Philipp; Paluch Ewa K; Juelicher Frank; Salbreux Guillaume
来源:New Journal of Physics, 2014, 16(6): 065005.
DOI:10.1088/1367-2630/16/6/065005

摘要

We derive the equations for a thin, axisymmetric elastic shell subjected to an internal active stress giving rise to active tension and moments within the shell. We discuss the stability of a cylindrical elastic shell and its response to a localized change in internal active stress. This description is relevant to describe the cellular actomyosin cortex, a thin shell at the cell surface behaving elastically at a short timescale and subjected to active internal forces arising from myosin molecular motor activity. We show that the recent observations of cell deformation following detachment of adherent cells (Ma tre J-L et al 2012 Science 338 253-6) are well accounted for by this mechanical description. The actin cortex elastic and bending moduli can be obtained from a quantitative analysis of cell shapes observed in these experiments. Our approach thus provides a non-invasive, imaging-based method for the extraction of cellular physical parameters.

  • 出版日期2014-6-10