No Arabic abstract
A quantum model on the chemically and physically induced pluripotency in stem cells is proposed. Based on the conformational Hamiltonian and the idea of slow variables (molecular torsions) slaving fast ones the conversion from the differentiate state to pluripotent state is defined as the quantum transition between conformational states. The transitional rate is calculated and an analytical form for the rate formulas is deduced. Then the dependence of the rate on the number of torsion angles of the gene and the magnitude of the rate can be estimated by comparison with protein folding. The reaction equations of the conformational change of the pluripotency genes in chemical reprogramming are given. The characteristic time of the chemical reprogramming is calculated and the result is consistent with experiments. The dependence of the transition rate on physical factors such as temperature, PH value and the volume and shape of the coherent domain is analyzed from the rate equation. It is suggested that by decreasing the coherence degree of some pluripotency genes a more effective approach to the physically induced pluripotency can be made.
A quantum model on the chemically and physically induced pluripotency in stem cells is proposed. Based on the conformational Hamiltonian and the idea of slow variables (molecular torsions) slaving fast ones the conversion from the differentiate state to pluripotent state is defined as the quantum transition between conformational states. The transitional rate is calculated and an analytical form for the rate formulas is deduced. Then the dependence of the rate on the number of torsion angles of the gene and the magnitude of the rate can be estimated by comparison with protein folding. The reaction equations of the conformational change of the pluripotency genes in chemical reprogramming are given. The characteristic time of the chemical reprogramming is calculated and the result is consistent with experiments. The dependence of the transition rate on physical factors such as temperature, PH value and the volume and shape of the coherent domain is analyzed from the rate equation. It is suggested that by decreasing the coherence degree of some pluripotency genes a more effective approach to the physically induced pluripotency can be made.
In addition to chemical and mechanical interactions between cells electromagnetic field produced by cells has been considered as another form of signaling for cell-cell communication. The aim of this study is evaluation of electromagnetic effects on viability of Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) without co-culturing. In this study, stem cells were isolated from human adipose tissue enzymatically and proliferated in monolayer culture. Then, 5.(10^4) adipose-derived stem cells were cultured in each well of the test plate. In the first row (4 wells), ADSCs as inducer cells were cultured in DMEM1 with 10 ng/ml Fibroblast growth factor (FGF). In adjacent and the last rows, ADSCs were cultured without FGF (as detector cells). After the three and five days the viability of cells were evaluated. Moreover, ADSCs were cultured in the same conditions but the inducer cells were placed once in the UV-filter tube and once in the quartz tube to see whether there is electromagnetic interaction among cells. Inducer cells caused significant cell proliferation in adjacent row cells (p- value<0.01) in the fifth day. However, using the UV-filter tube and quartz tube both reduced the effect of inducer cells on adjacent cells significantly. As a conclusion, we could detect distant cellular interaction (DCI) among adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs), but it was not electromagnetic signaling. Our results show that ADSCs affect each other via volatile signaling as a chemical distant cellular interaction (CDCI).
Since the discovery of a cancer initiating side population in solid tumours, studies focussing on the role of so-called cancer stem cells in cancer initiation and progression have abounded. The biological interrogation of these cells has yielded volumes of information about their behaviour, but there has, as of yet, not been many actionable generalised theoretical conclusions. To address this point, we have created a hybrid, discrete/continuous computational cellular automaton model of a generalised stem-cell driven tissue and explored the phenotypic traits inherent in the inciting cell and the resultant tissue growth. We identify the regions in phenotype parameter space where these initiating cells are able to cause a disruption in homeostasis, leading to tissue overgrowth and tumour formation. As our parameters and model are non-specific, they could apply to any tissue cancer stem-cell and do not assume specific genetic mutations. In this way, our model suggests that targeting these phenotypic traits could represent generalizable strategies across cancer types and represents a first attempt to identify the hallmarks of cancer stem cells.
A model of genome evolution is proposed. Based on three assumptions the evolutionary theory of a genome is formulated. The general law on the direction of genome evolution is given. Both the deterministic classical equation and the stochastic quantum equation are proposed. It is proved that the classical equation can be put in a form of the least action principle and the latter can be used for obtaining the quantum generalization of the evolutionary law. The wave equation and uncertainty relation for the quantum evolution are deduced logically. It is shown that the classical trajectory is a limiting case of the general quantum evolution depicted in the coarse-grained time. The observed smooth/sudden evolution is interpreted by the alternating occurrence of the classical and quantum phases. The speciation event is explained by the quantum transition in quantum phase. Fundamental constants of time dimension, the quantization constant and the evolutionary inertia, are introduced for characterizing the genome evolution. The size of minimum genome is deduced from the quantum uncertainty lower bound. The present work shows the quantum law may be more general than thought, since it plays key roles not only in atomic physics, but also in genome evolution.
Numerous biological approaches are available to characterise the mechanisms which govern the formation of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) colonies. To understand how the kinematics of single and pairs of hESCs impact colony formation, we study their mobility characteristics using time-lapse imaging. We perform a detailed statistical analysis of their speed, survival, directionality, distance travelled and diffusivity. We confirm that single and pairs of cells migrate as a diffusive random walk. Moreover, we show that the presence of Cell Tracer significantly reduces hESC mobility. Our results open the path to employ the theoretical framework of the diffusive random walk for the prognostic modelling and optimisation of the growth of hESC colonies. Indeed, we employ this random walk model to estimate the seeding density required to minimise the occurrence of hESC colonies arising from more than one founder cell and the minimal cell number needed for successful colony formation. We believe that our prognostic model can be extended to investigate the kinematic behaviour of somatic cells emerging from hESC differentiation and to enable its wide application in phenotyping of pluripotent stem cells for large scale stem cell culture expansion and differentiation platforms.