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Researchers: Cells organize themselves in our organs by increasing in volume when tissues bend

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Our cells take their ease in the curves
By bending “sheet” of cells, similar to the one that makes up our skin, the researchers noticed more precisely that the cells swelled to take the shape of small domes/Aurélien Roux

They hope that their “surprising discovery” could enable in vitro culture of organs, which might be a humane alternative to animal experimentation:

How do our cells organize themselves to give their final shape to our organs? The answer lies in morphogenesis, the set of mechanisms that regulate their distribution in space during embryonic development. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has just made a surprising discovery in this field: when a tissue curves, the volume of the cells that compose it increases instead of decreasing. This discovery opens new avenues for in vitro organ culture, a partial alternative to animal experimentation.

Université De Genève, “Our cells take their ease in the curves” at Eurekalert (May 13, 2022)

Remarkably,

In a recent study, Professor Roux’s team investigated how the cells that make up a tissue react and adapt when it is bent. By rolling a monolayer of cells in vitro, which is a compact, flat assembly of cells arranged next to each other, the UNIGE scientists made a counterintuitive discovery. “We found that the volume of cells located in the curvature increased by about 50% after five minutes instead of decreasing, and then returned to normal within 30 minutes,” explains Aurélien Roux, the last author of this study. This is the opposite of what can be observed when bending an elastic material.

By bending this “sheet” of cells, similar to the one that makes up our skin, the researchers noticed more precisely that the latter swelled to take the shape of small domes. “The fact that this increase in volume is staggered in time and transient also shows that it is an active and living system,” adds Caterina Tomba, first author of the study and former researcher in the Department of Biochemistry at the UNIGE.

Université De Genève, “Our cells take their ease in the curves” at Eurekalert (May 13, 2022)

“The fact that this increase in volume is staggered in time and transient also shows that it is an active and living system,” adds a researcher.

Once again, we are expected to believe that such a system can just develop in a gradual Darwinian fashion.

The paper is open access.

You may also wish to read: In embryos, we are told, “nothing is left to chance in the ‘seating plan’ for the first few cells.” “Nothing is left to chance” even in cell spacing in worm eggs but we are told there is no design behind the universe?

Comments
Once again, we are expected to believe that such a system can just develop in a gradual Darwinian fashion.
Once again, we are expected to believe that such a system was designed, even though the nature, powers and even name of the designer are studiously avoided and there no explanation of how it accomplished its designs at all.Seversky
May 14, 2022
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SemiOT: Just noticing an unexpected friend of ID. https://twitter.com/walterkirn/status/1525557472928227328 Kirn is a novelist more or less in the tradition of Walker Percy. He doesn't do science as such but has a solid intuitive grasp of real science vs fake science.polistra
May 14, 2022
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Once again, we are expected to believe that such a system can just develop in a gradual Darwinian fashion.
Exactly. By labeling it "an active and living system" everybody is supposed to accept that it evolved that way and anything can happen - since, after all - it's living and active.Silver Asiatic
May 14, 2022
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Seems to be a highly unusual situation. If all cells increased in volume by 50% every time a tissue was bent, every joint would be swelling up hugely every time it bends. Even an inanimate surface can increase or decrease depending on which side is less elastic. Think of a sheet of glue-on insulation (acoustic foam) with adhesive plastic on one side. When you bend with foam outward the foam increases in volume. With foam inward the foam decreases in volume.polistra
May 13, 2022
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