Affiliations: Center for Fundamental and Advanced Technical Research, Romanian Academy, Timisoara, Romania | Department of Biophysics and Medical Informatics, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania | Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Adrian Neagu, Department of Biophysics and Medical Informatics, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara, Piata Eftimie Murgu No. 2-4, 300041 Timisoara, Romania. Tel./Fax: +40 256 490288; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: Embryonic tissues and multicellular aggregates of adult cells mimic the behavior of highly viscous liquids. The liquid analogy helps to understand morphogenetic phenomena, such as cell sorting and tissue fusion, observed in developmental biology and tissue engineering. Tissue fusion is vital in tissue printing, an emergent technique based on computer-controlled deposition of tissue fragments and biocompatible materials. Computer simulations proved useful in predicting post-printing shape changes of tissue constructs. The simulation methods available to date, however, are unable to describe the time evolution of living systems made of millions of cells. The Lattice Boltzmann (LB) approach allows the implementation of interaction forces between the constituents of the system and yields time evolution in terms of distribution functions. With tissue engineering applications in mind, we have developed a finite difference Lattice Boltzmann model of a multicellular system and applied it to simulate the sidewise fusion of two contiguous cylinders made of cohesive cells and embedded in a medium (hydrogel). We have identified a biologically relevant range of model parameters. The proposed LB model may be extended to describe the time evolution of more complex multicellular structures such as sheets or tubes produced by tissue printing.
