Liquid-crystal organization of liver tissue

Morales-Navarrete, Hernan; Nonaka, Hidenori; Scholich, Andre; Segovia-Miranda, Fabian; de Back, Walter; Meyer, Kirstin; Bogorad, Roman L.; Koteliansky, Victor; Brusch, Lutz; Kalaidzidis, Yannis; Juelicher, Frank; Friedrich, Benjamin M.; Zerial, Marino

Abstract

Functional tissue architecture originates by self-assembly of distinct cell types, following tissue-specific rules of cell-cell interactions. In the liver, a structural model of the lobule was pioneered by Elias in 1949. This model, however, is in contrast with the apparent random 3D arrangement of hepatocytes. Since then, no significant progress has been made to derive the organizing principles of liver tissue. To solve this outstanding problem, we computationally reconstructed 3D tissue geometry from microscopy images of mouse liver tissue and analyzed it applying soft-condensed-matter-physics concepts. Surprisingly, analysis of the spatial organization of cell polarity revealed that hepatocytes are not randomly oriented but follow a long-range liquidcrystal order. This does not depend exclusively on hepatocytes receiving instructive signals by endothelial cells, since silencing Integrin-beta 1 disrupted both liquid-crystal order and organization of the sinusoidal network. Our results suggest that bi-directional communication between hepatocytes and sinusoids underlies the self-organization of liver tissue.

Más información

Título según WOS: ID WOS:000473398900001 Not found in local WOS DB
Título de la Revista: ELIFE
Volumen: 8
Editorial: eLIFE SCIENCES PUBL LTD
Fecha de publicación: 2019
DOI:

10.7554/eLife.44860

Notas: ISI