Self-organization of self-clearing beating patterns in an array of locally interacting ciliated cells formulated as an adaptive Boolean network.

ABSTRACT: The observed spatiotemporal ciliary beat patterns leading to proper mucociliary clearance on multiciliated epithelia are suspected to be the result of self-organizing processes on various levels. Here, we present a simplified pluricellular epithelium model, which intends to make the self-organization of ciliary beating patterns as well as of the associated fluid transport across the airway epithelium plausible. The model is based on a two-dimensional array of locally interacting oscillating ciliated cells. Ciliated cells are represented by Boolean actuators, and abstracted hydrodynamic mucociliary interactions are formulated in terms of logical update rules (Boolean functions). In the course of a simulation, initial random conformations of an array of actuators self-organize toward metachr

SUBMITTER: Schneiter M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6994478 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature