Undulation Instability of Epithelial Tissues

TL;DR

This paper models epithelial tissue as an incompressible fluid and discovers a hydrodynamic instability that causes epithelial protrusions into the stroma, offering insights into tissue undulation and cancer invasion mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hydrodynamic instability model explaining epithelial protrusions and tissue undulation, linking physical properties to biological phenomena.

Findings

Identifies a hydrodynamic instability causing epithelial protrusions

Links tissue properties like viscosity and cell division rate to instability onset

Suggests a physical mechanism for tissue dysplasia and cancer invasion

Abstract

Treating the epithelium as an incompressible fluid adjacent to a viscoelastic stroma, we find a novel hydrodynamic instability that leads to the formation of protrusions of the epithelium into the stroma. This instability is a candidate for epithelial fingering observed in vivo. It occurs for sufficiently large viscosity, cell-division rate and thickness of the dividing region in the epithelium. Our work provides physical insight into a potential mechanism by which interfaces between epithelia and stromas undulate, and potentially by which tissue dysplasia leads to cancerous invasion.