Abstract
STIMULI passing to a cell within solid tissue are modulated by the cellular environment. Control mechanisms must therefore involve both humoral influences and the architecture of the cellular microenvironment. Epidermis suffers a constant loss of surface cells which are replaced by basal cells which have differentiated during migration to the surface. In mouse ear and dorsum, the path of this migration can be observed as precisely defined columns of cells1 which are in tetrakaidecahedral2 form (Fig. 1) as in the rigid cell walls of plant tissues3. Recent studies3,4 have suggested that maintenance of this system of ‘dynamic orderedness’ may be explained by reference to its physical geometry, and minimal surface packing configurations. In this paper we discuss some of the consequences of this view of tissue architecture.
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ALLEN, T., POTTEN, C. Significance of cell shape in tissue architecture. Nature 264, 545–547 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/264545a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/264545a0
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