Modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm: poroviscoelasticity and fluid-to-solid transition
Eukaryotic cell rheology has important consequences for vital processes such as adhesion, migration, and differentiation. Experiments indicate that cell cytoplasm can exhibit both elastic and viscous characteristics in different regimes, while the transport of fluid (cytosol) through the cross-linke...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2024
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/155688 |
| _version_ | 1824458102992273408 |
|---|---|
| author | Thekkethil, Namshad Köry, Jakub Guo, Ming Stewart, Peter S. Hill, Nicholas A. Luo, Xiaoyu |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Thekkethil, Namshad Köry, Jakub Guo, Ming Stewart, Peter S. Hill, Nicholas A. Luo, Xiaoyu |
| author_sort | Thekkethil, Namshad |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Eukaryotic cell rheology has important consequences for vital processes such as adhesion, migration, and differentiation. Experiments indicate that cell cytoplasm can exhibit both elastic and viscous characteristics in different regimes, while the transport of fluid (cytosol) through the cross-linked filamentous scaffold (cytoskeleton) is reminiscent of mass transfer by diffusion through a porous medium. To gain insights into this complex rheological behaviour, we construct a computational model for the cell cytoplasm as a poroviscoelastic material formulated on the principles of nonlinear continuum mechanics, where we model the cytoplasm as a porous viscoelastic scaffold with an embedded viscous fluid flowing between the pores to model the cytosol. Baseline simulations (neglecting the viscosity of the cytosol) indicate that the system exhibits seven different regimes across the parameter space spanned by the viscoelastic relaxation timescale of the cytoskeleton and the poroelastic diffusion timescale; these regimes agree qualitatively with experimental measurements. Furthermore, the theoretical model also allows us to elucidate the additional role of pore fluid viscosity, which enters the system as a distinct viscous timescale. We show that increasing this viscous timescale hinders the passage of the pore fluid (reducing the poroelastic diffusion) and makes the cytoplasm rheology increasingly incompressible, shifting the phase boundaries between the regimes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:43:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/155688 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:20:34Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1556882025-01-04T05:48:33Z Modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm: poroviscoelasticity and fluid-to-solid transition Thekkethil, Namshad Köry, Jakub Guo, Ming Stewart, Peter S. Hill, Nicholas A. Luo, Xiaoyu Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Eukaryotic cell rheology has important consequences for vital processes such as adhesion, migration, and differentiation. Experiments indicate that cell cytoplasm can exhibit both elastic and viscous characteristics in different regimes, while the transport of fluid (cytosol) through the cross-linked filamentous scaffold (cytoskeleton) is reminiscent of mass transfer by diffusion through a porous medium. To gain insights into this complex rheological behaviour, we construct a computational model for the cell cytoplasm as a poroviscoelastic material formulated on the principles of nonlinear continuum mechanics, where we model the cytoplasm as a porous viscoelastic scaffold with an embedded viscous fluid flowing between the pores to model the cytosol. Baseline simulations (neglecting the viscosity of the cytosol) indicate that the system exhibits seven different regimes across the parameter space spanned by the viscoelastic relaxation timescale of the cytoskeleton and the poroelastic diffusion timescale; these regimes agree qualitatively with experimental measurements. Furthermore, the theoretical model also allows us to elucidate the additional role of pore fluid viscosity, which enters the system as a distinct viscous timescale. We show that increasing this viscous timescale hinders the passage of the pore fluid (reducing the poroelastic diffusion) and makes the cytoplasm rheology increasingly incompressible, shifting the phase boundaries between the regimes. 2024-07-16T14:35:44Z 2024-07-16T14:35:44Z 2024-07-08 2024-07-14T03:16:53Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1617-7959 1617-7940 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/155688 Thekkethil, N., Köry, J., Guo, M. et al. Modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm: poroviscoelasticity and fluid-to-solid transition. Biomech Model Mechanobiol (2024). PUBLISHER_CC en 10.1007/s10237-024-01854-2 Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Author(s) application/pdf Springer Science and Business Media LLC Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| spellingShingle | Thekkethil, Namshad Köry, Jakub Guo, Ming Stewart, Peter S. Hill, Nicholas A. Luo, Xiaoyu Modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm: poroviscoelasticity and fluid-to-solid transition |
| title | Modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm: poroviscoelasticity and fluid-to-solid transition |
| title_full | Modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm: poroviscoelasticity and fluid-to-solid transition |
| title_fullStr | Modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm: poroviscoelasticity and fluid-to-solid transition |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm: poroviscoelasticity and fluid-to-solid transition |
| title_short | Modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm: poroviscoelasticity and fluid-to-solid transition |
| title_sort | modelling the rheology of living cell cytoplasm poroviscoelasticity and fluid to solid transition |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/155688 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT thekkethilnamshad modellingtherheologyoflivingcellcytoplasmporoviscoelasticityandfluidtosolidtransition AT koryjakub modellingtherheologyoflivingcellcytoplasmporoviscoelasticityandfluidtosolidtransition AT guoming modellingtherheologyoflivingcellcytoplasmporoviscoelasticityandfluidtosolidtransition AT stewartpeters modellingtherheologyoflivingcellcytoplasmporoviscoelasticityandfluidtosolidtransition AT hillnicholasa modellingtherheologyoflivingcellcytoplasmporoviscoelasticityandfluidtosolidtransition AT luoxiaoyu modellingtherheologyoflivingcellcytoplasmporoviscoelasticityandfluidtosolidtransition |