Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31537984›Full record

ArticleNature physics2019

Active wetting of epithelial tissues.

Carlos Pérez-González, Ricard Alert, Carles Blanch-Mercader, Manuel Gómez-González, Tomasz Kolodziej, Elsa Bazellieres, Jaume Casademunt, Xavier Trepat

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature physics, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 86 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
86citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

86 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  3. Review
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  5. Article
  6. What is active wetting?The European physical journal. E, Soft matter · 2026
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Physical models of embryonic epithelial healing.PLoS computational biology · 2026
    Review
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Sociohydrodynamics: Data-driven modeling of social behavior.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  19. RAB5A Promotes Active Fluid Wetting by Reprogramming Breast Cancer Spheroid Mechanics.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025
    Article
  20. Article

26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Carlos Pérez-González *Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona 08028, Spain.
Ricard Alert *Departament de Física de la Matèria Condensada, Facultat de Física, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Carles Blanch-MercaderLaboratoire Physico Chimie Curie, Institut Curie, PSL Research University - Sorbonne Universités, UPMC CNRS, UMR 168, 26 rue d'Ulm, F-75248 Paris Cedex 05, France.
Manuel Gómez-GonzálezInstitute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona 08028, Spain.
Tomasz KolodziejFaculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, 30-348 Kraków, Poland.
Elsa BazellieresInstitute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona 08028, Spain.
Jaume CasademuntDepartament de Física de la Matèria Condensada, Facultat de Física, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Xavier TrepatInstitute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona 08028, Spain.

Funding

European Research Council 616480
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Development, regeneration and cancer involve drastic transitions in tissue morphology. In analogy with the behavior of inert fluids, some of these transitions have been interpreted as wetting transitions. The validity and scope of this analogy are unclear, however, because the active cellular forces that drive tissue wetting have been neither measured nor theoretically accounted for. Here we show that the transition between two-dimensional epithelial monolayers and three-dimensional spheroidal aggregates can be understood as an active wetting transition whose physics differs fundamentally from that of passive wetting phenomena. By combining an active polar fluid model with measurements of physical forces as a function of tissue size, contractility, cell-cell and cell-substrate adhesion, and substrate stiffness, we show that the wetting transition results from the competition between traction forces and contractile intercellular stresses. This competition defines a new intrinsic lengthscale that gives rise to a critical size for the wetting transition in tissues, a striking feature that has no counterpart in classical wetting. Finally, we show that active shape fluctuations are dynamically amplified during tissue dewetting. Overall, we conclude that tissue spreading constitutes a prominent example of active wetting - a novel physical scenario that may explain morphological transitions during tissue morphogenesis and tumor progression.

Identifiers

PMID31537984
PMCPMC6753015

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.