Simple modelling of extracellular alignment in dermal wound healing. I Cell ux induced alignment

Journal article

We present a generic model to investigate alignment due to cell movement with specific application to collagen fibre alignment in wound healing. In particular, alignment in two orthogonal directions is considered. Numerical simulations are presented to show how alignment is affected by key parameters in the model. From a travelling wave analysis of a simplified one-dimensional version of the model we derive a first order ordinary differential equation to describe the time evolution of alignment. We conclude that in the wound healing context, faster healing wounds result in more alignment and hence more severe scarring. It is shown how the model can be extended to include orientation-dependent kinetics, multiple cell types and several extracellular matrix materials.

Authors: Olsen, L; Maini, P; Sherratt, J; Marchant, B

• Publication date: 1998-01-01