Global cell-cell communication enables spatial segregation of cells in organoids of the inner cell mass

TL;DR

This paper presents a computational model demonstrating how global cell signaling can lead to spatial patterning of cell types in embryo organoids, closely matching experimental observations.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel model showing global signaling as a key mechanism for pattern formation in early embryonic development.

Findings

Model reproduces diverse spatial patterns observed in experiments

Quantitative analysis confirms strong agreement with biological data

Global signaling can explain cell segregation in organoids

Abstract

During development, cell fates are determined through a combination of intracellular transcriptional regulations and extracellular signaling. As a result, spatial patterns of different cell types arise. We investigate the decision between epiblast and primitive endoderm cells in the inner cell mass of the preimplantation mouse embryo. Our computational model uses global cell signaling for the pattern formation. By varying the signal dispersion, cell type arrangements ranging from a checkerboard to an engulfing pattern can be generated. Pair correlation functions provide a well-suited way of characterizing the model output. With these, we established a quantitative comparison between the simulation results and experimental data of inner cell mass organoids. We obtained an astonishing agreement. Thus, our model proves its capability to replicate the cell differentiation patterns, making global signaling a strong contender to explain pattern formation in the preimplantation embryo.