Biophysics of cyclic stretch-induced cell columnarization

Fu-Lai Wen^1*, Lun-Wei Lee^2,3, Keng-Hui Lin⁴, Ming-Jer Tang^2,3

¹Department of Physics, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
²Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan
³Department of Physiology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan
⁴Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei City, Taiwan

* Presenter:Fu-Lai Wen, email:fulai@ncu.edu.tw

Tissues consist of many cells that work together to perform a specific function for the living organism. While cells within a tissue are constantly perturbed by time-varying mechanical forces from the surroundings, they are capable of maintaining their structures required for execution of normal functions. To understand how cells respond to a dynamic mechanical stimulation, we subjected MDCK cells (a canine kidney epithelial cell line) to a persistent uniaxial cyclic stretch (CS), and found that MDCK cells autonomously transformed from a cuboidal to a columnar shape with increased cell height and reduced cell width. In particular, the CS-induced cell shape transformation is shown to be associated with the remodeling of intracellular cytoskeletons and intercellular junctions. Through atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements and mathematical modeling analyses, we further confirmed that these molecular remodeling processes result in an increase of tensile forces at both the apical and the basal sides of cells, which in turn promote the shape transformation. Our findings thus reveal a mechanobiological mechanism by which epithelial cells sense and adapt to a dynamic mechanical stimulation.

Keywords: Morphogenesis, Mechanobiology, Biophysics