多细胞体系聚集态行为的理论研究

The study on the condensation behavior of multicellular system is of great significance for the understanding of many life phenomena and, at the same time, relevant theoretical problems on this subject are highly interdisciplinary. In the proposal, the self-consistent field theory (SCFT) for block copolymers developed in polymer physics will be introduced to the field of biological physics. Based on the SCFT and the classic elastic membrane model, we propose a theoretical framework that can be used to describe the condensation behavior of multicellular systems properly; this framework will be further employed to simulate the embryonic development by a simple embryonic-development model and the influence of the zero-dimensional model parameters on the final 3-dimensional fetus morphologies will be specially investigated. The theoretical methods for simulating condensation behaviors of multicellular system developed in the proposal can be used to explain many life scientific problems, in the future, such as the condensation of red cells in blood, the elasticity of the skin and the growth of a tumor; and it is expected that it will be of great potentials.

多细胞体系的聚集态行为的研究对理解生命现象有着重要的意义，其相关的理论科学问题具有高度的学科交叉性。本申请项目把高分子物理领域发展的自洽场方法引入到生物物理领域，结合经典的生物膜弹性模型理论构造可描述多细胞聚集态行为的理论模拟框架，并将此理论模拟框架应用于一个简化的胚胎发育模型，考察几个零维的模型参数对最终三维胚胎形貌的调控作用。本申请项目发展的细胞聚集态行为的理论模拟方法将来还可用于研究血液中的红血球的凝聚流动、皮肤组织的弹性力学、肿瘤生长等重要的生命科学问题，颇具发展潜能。

本项目《多细胞体系聚集态行为的理论研究》旨在研究多个细胞体聚集行为。项目的主要目标是发展一套基于三角网格划分可描述多个细胞体聚集态行为的模拟方法，研究多个细胞体相互作用时的行为。同时提出一套研究多细胞（胚胎发育）的简化理论模型。项目进展顺利，通过对两个细胞相互作用的研究发现，我们的模型可大致解释线粒体和Schwann Cell形貌的成因。通过对三细胞聚集体行为的模拟研究，我们得到了不同温度下不同吸附强度下的相图，揭示了只有在吸附强度适中，温度较小时，易形成密堆积聚集体。我们同时模拟研究了60个细胞的聚集态行为并得到了初步的模拟结果。最终基于上述模拟结果，我们提出了一个简化的格子模型。上述成果发表于7篇SCI论文中。