Biology subjects

Vicente-Munuera, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Vicente-Munuera, P..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

The extracellular matrix regulates tissue mechanics to enable cyclic lymph node remodelling and sustained immunity

Tissue shape and function are defined by the mechanical interactions of cellular and extracellular components. Lymph nodes cyclically remodel in response to immune challenges whilst preserving essential tissue architecture, comprised of a stromal fibroblastic reticular cell (FRC) network and extracellular matrix (ECM) it ensheaths. We experimentally quantified the contribution of ECM to the viscoelastic properties of the FRC network to parameterise an in silico model exploring factors affecting the FRC network's adaptation to lymph node expansion. The balance between tissue pressure, FRC contractility, and ECM stiffness permit robust tissue remodelling, while maintaining physiological geometries. Local perturbation of ECM stiffness or FRC contractility disrupts force distribution and impacts FRC proliferation and tissue expansion. Spatially dispersed perturbations exert higher impact on tissue remodelling than equivalent localised perturbations, with effects propagating across the network. The lymph node provides a system for studying the integration of cellular and extracellular mechanics during dramatic tissue remodelling.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2025

Three-Dimensional Mechanical Cooperativity Optimises Epithelial Wound Healing

Epithelial tissues serve as critical physical barriers that protect organs, making efficient repair essential upon damage. To achieve this, tissues must quickly react, forcing cells to rearrange and accommodate. Therefore, cells must cope with forces that will deform their shape to achieve these sudden but necessary changes. In the Drosophila wing disc, we showed how tissue fluidisation accelerated wound healing in 2D. However, the 3D aspect of tissue repair remains poorly understood. Here, we uncover a new mechanism aiding the tissue in repairing itself by changing cell height. We find actomyosin contractile cables at the wound edge connecting the apical and basal cell surface, which indent the apical side of the tissue and deform the basement membrane (BM), respectively. To understand the role of the different repair mechanisms, we developed a 3D vertex model allowing apico-basal intercalations. The model predicts that lateral cables play a role in regulating cell-cell intercalations, confirmed by Drosophila mutations affecting cell deformations. Our results demonstrate that lateral cables cooperate with the apical purse string to drive 3D cell shape changes and intercalations to promote more efficient wound repair.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2023

CartoCell, a high-throughput pipeline for accurate 3D image analysis, unveils cell morphology patterns in epithelial cysts.

Decades of research have not yet fully explained the mechanisms of epithelial self-organization and 3D packing. Single-cell analysis of large 3D epithelial libraries is crucial for understanding the assembly and function of whole tissues. Combining 3D epithelial imaging with advanced deep learning segmentation methods is essential for enabling this high-content analysis. We introduce CartoCell, a deep learning-based pipeline that uses small datasets to generate accurate labels for hundreds of whole 3D epithelial cysts. Our method detects the realistic morphology of epithelial cells and their contacts in the 3D structure of the tissue. CartoCell enables the quantification of geometric and packing features at the cellular level. Our Single-cell Cartography approach then maps the distribution of these features on 2D plots and 3D surface maps, revealing cell morphology patterns in epithelial cysts. Additionally, we show that CartoCell can be adapted to other types of epithelial tissues. MOTIVATIONA major bottleneck in developing neural networks for cell segmentation is the need for labor-intensive manual curation in order to develop a training dataset. The present work addresses this limitation by developing an automated image analysis pipeline that utilizes small datasets to generate accurate labels of cells in complex, 3D epithelial contexts. The overall goal is to provide an automatic and feasible method to achieve high-quality epithelial reconstructions and to enable high-content analysis of morphological features, which can improve our understanding of how these tissues self-organize.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2020

A quantitative principle to understand 3D cellular connectivity in epithelial tubes

Epithelial cell organization and the mechanical stability of tissues are closely related. In this context, it has been recently shown that packing optimization in bended/folded epithelia is achieved by a surface tension energy minimization mechanism that leads to a novel cellular shape: the scutoid. However, further cellular and tissue level implications of this new developmental paradigm remain unknown. Here we focus on the relationship between this complex cellular shape and the connectivity between cells. We address this problem using a combination of computational, experimental, and biophysical approaches in tubular epithelia. In particular, we examine how energy drivers affect the three-dimensional packing of these tissues. We challenge our biophysical model by reducing the cell adhesion in epithelial cells. As a result, we observed an increment on the cell apico-basal intercalation propensity that correlated with a decrease of the energy barrier necessary to connect with new cells. We conclude that tubular epithelia satisfy a quantitative biophysical principle, that links tissue geometry and energetics with the average cellular connectivity.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2017

EpiGraph: an open-source platform to quantify epithelial organization

During development, cells must coordinate their differentiation with their growth and organization to form complex multicellular structures such as tissues and organs. Healthy tissues must maintain these structures during homeostasis. Epithelia are packed ensembles of cells from which the different tissues of the organism will originate during embryogenesis. A large barrier to the analysis of the morphogenetic changes in epithelia is the lack of simple tools that enable the quantification of cell arrangements. Here we present EpiGraph, an image analysis tool that quantifies epithelial organization. Our method combines computational geometry and graph theory to measure the degree of order of any packed tissue. EpiGraph goes beyond the traditional polygon distribution analysis, capturing other organizational traits that improve the characterization of epithelia. EpiGraph can objectively compare the rearrangements of epithelial cells during development and homeostasis to quantify how the global ensemble is affected. Importantly, it has been implemented in the open-access platform FIJI. This makes EpiGraph very user friendly, with no programming skills required.

developmental biology↗