Dr Shiladitya Banerjee

Tissue fluidity promotes rapid wound repair

Epithelial tissues are inevitably damaged from time to time and must therefore have robust repair mechanisms. The behaviour of tissues depends on their mechanical properties and those of the surrounding environment. However, it remains poorly understood how tissue material properties regulates wound healing. Here we show that by tuning cell-cell junctional tension in tissues, we can alter the rate of wound healing in vivo, in vitro, and in silico. We observe cells moving past each other at the wound edge by exchanging neighbors, like molecules in a fluid, resulting in seamless wound closure. Using theory and experiments, we counterintuitively predict that an increase in tissue fluidity, via a reduction in junctional tension, can accelerate the rate of wound healing. This is contrary to previous evidence that actomyosin tensile structures are important for wound healing. The role we describe for tissue fluidity in wound healing, in addition to its known roles in developing and mature tissues, reinforces the importance of the fluid state of a tissue.