ArticleCommunications biology2023
Contractility-induced self-organization of smooth muscle cells: from multilayer cell sheets to dynamic three-dimensional clusters.
Article in Communications biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Smooth muscle cell spheroids as 3D model of phenotypic plasticity and matrix deposition revealed by 2D-3D proteomics.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- What is active wetting?The European physical journal. E, Soft matter · 2026Review
- Effects of Rosa damascena and its compounds on smooth muscle contractility.Journal of smooth muscle research = Nihon Heikatsukin Gakkai kikanshi · 2026Review
- Shaping 3D minimal model tissues with mechanical constraints to orchestrate muscle differentiation.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Patterning and folding of intestinal villi by active mesenchymal dewetting.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are mural cells that play a vital contractile function in many tissues. Abnormalities in SMC organization are associated with many diseases including atherosclerosis, asthma, and uterine fibroids. Various studies have reported that SMCs cultured on flat surfaces can spontaneously form three-dimensional clusters whose organization resembles that encountered in some of these pathological settings. Remarkably, how these structures form remains unknown. Here we combine in vitro experiments and physical modeling to show that three-dimensional clusters initiate when cellular contractile forces induce a hole in a flat SMC sheet, a process that can be modeled as the brittle fracture of a viscoelastic material. The subsequent evolution of the nascent cluster can be modeled as an active dewetting process with cluster shape evolution driven by a balance between cluster surface tension, arising from both cell contractility and adhesion, and cluster viscous dissipation. The description of the physical mechanisms governing the spontaneous emergence of these intriguing three-dimensional clusters may offer insight into SMC-related disorders.
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