Cell-Based Multi-Parametric Model of Cleft Progression during Submandibular Salivary Gland Branching Morphogenesis
Figure 3
Construction of a GGH model of cleft formation and scope of modeling.
A six cell deep single cleft was designed having 36 pixels as the total cleft depth with predefined cleft cells (dark and medium blue). The local cleft simulation shows the other epithelial areas as polarized OCCs (dark green) and non-polarized IPCs (light green) with mitotic cells (yellow). The mesenchymal compartment (cyan) has been simplified to a single large cell. FPP links in the OCCs are shown as white lines. Spatial conversion: 1 µm = 1.06 pixels. Temporal conversion: 1 MCS = 48 sec. Single cleft model at (a) 0 Monte Carlo steps (MCS) and (b) 1500 MCS (Scale = 50 µm). Time lapse images of a mesenchyme-free E12 epithelial rudiment at (c) time 0 hr and (d) time 20 hrs with cleft measurements under 200× magnification (Scale = 20 µm). Average cleft depth = 36.2 µm. (e) Since cleft depth reaches a maximum value at 1500 MCS, this value was selected to represent the end of cleft progression. (f) The cleft depth distribution over time for the base case condition showing 34.1 pixels cleft depth after 1500 MCS, corresponding to a 20 hr growth period of a pre-defined initiating cleft through the end of cleft progression.