Mathematical fruit fly eye model created
Published: Jan. 14, 2008 at 9:39 AM
EVANSTON, Ill., Jan. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have created a mathematical functional equation using only two parameters to show how cells pack together to create a fruit fly's eyes.
The Northwestern University researchers -- led by Associate Professor Sascha Hilgenfeldt, Professor Richard Carthew and undergraduate researcher Sinem Erisken -- said they hope their the equation can be applied to different kinds of tissues, leading to advances in regenerative medicine.
Hilgenfeldt said the cells in a fruit fly's eye act more like foam in that the structure of the cells depends only on the energy of their interfaces, or the surface where the cells touch. That energy is divided into two parts -- the energy from the stretching of the cells' membranes and the energy of the adhesion molecules that hold the neighboring cell membranes together.
Hilgenfeldt took those two factors and created a quantitative model of cell geometries in the fruit fly retina. So instead of needing to know all the different cell factors to create the model, only the two energy components are required.
The work appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Northwestern University researchers -- led by Associate Professor Sascha Hilgenfeldt, Professor Richard Carthew and undergraduate researcher Sinem Erisken -- said they hope their the equation can be applied to different kinds of tissues, leading to advances in regenerative medicine.
Hilgenfeldt said the cells in a fruit fly's eye act more like foam in that the structure of the cells depends only on the energy of their interfaces, or the surface where the cells touch. That energy is divided into two parts -- the energy from the stretching of the cells' membranes and the energy of the adhesion molecules that hold the neighboring cell membranes together.
Hilgenfeldt took those two factors and created a quantitative model of cell geometries in the fruit fly retina. So instead of needing to know all the different cell factors to create the model, only the two energy components are required.
The work appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
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This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
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