近日，在即将发表在EPJ E杂志上的一项最新研究称，法国巴黎居里研究所的物理学家已经证明细胞薄层与基底接触类似于薄液体或弹性薄膜。了解其中薄层细胞成脱节分裂的机制，对从而打破基底层的结构完整性有重大意义。开发研究液体的模型用来研究细胞组织机制，这可能会进一步了解我们胚胎发育和癌症。
由于蜂窝层和薄液膜这一很好理解的比喻，科学家Stéphane Douezan和弗朗索瓦Françoise Brochard-Nyart设计出基地层的演化模型。他们将其作为一个积极的、无定形材料制成的连续细胞。因为它受到临近细胞、细胞和细胞基质粘附的不断竞争，它或可以保持结构的连续或中断。
研究人员探究基底层的稳定时，受到化学和物理干扰。但研究人员观察到细胞层破裂导致细胞补丁穿插细胞群之间时的去湿现象。去湿通常是在湿滑路面上的粘性聚合物薄膜中观察到。他们认为去湿现象是由于细胞的独特的敏感性及其底物的性质，特别是其刚度的下降所影响的。(生物谷：Bioon.com）
doi:10.1140/epje/i2012-12034-9
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Dewetting of cellular monolayers
Douezan S., Brochard-Wyart F.
In a study about to be published in The European Physical Journal E, French physicists from the Curie Institute in Paris have demonstrated that the behaviour of a thin layer of cells in contact with an unfavourable substrate is akin to that of thin fluid or elastic films. Understanding the mechanism by which a thin layer of cells splits into disjointed patches, thus breaking the layer's structural integrity, bears great significance because the human tissue, or epithelium, covering organs can only fulfil its role if there are no holes or gaps between the cells.
Thanks to the analogy between the cellular layer examined and the well-understood behaviour of thin liquid films, the scientists Stéphane Douezan and Françoise Brochard-Nyart devised a model of the layer's evolution. They considered it as an active, amorphous material made of a continuum of cells. Because it is subject to a constant competition between neighbouring cell-cell and cell-substrate adhesion, it can either maintain its contiguous structure or break.
The authors investigated the layer's stability when subjected to chemical and physical disturbances. In particular, they scrutinised how the cellular layer reacted to a non-adhesive substrate with little chemical affinity with the cells. They also subjected the cells to a physical disturbance by laying them in substrates with low stiffness, such as soft gels.
The researchers observed what is known as the dewetting phenomenon, whereby the cellular layer is ruptured leading to islands of cells interspersed with dry patches. Dewetting is normally observed in viscous polymer films on slippery surfaces. They concluded that the dewetting phenomenon is due to the cells' distinctive sensitivity to the nature of its substrate, particularly to its decreased stiffness. This means that active, living cells remain governed by the laws of physics.
