Abstract
The morphological patterns of the cultivated cells of primary mesenchyme and the spicules of the larval skeleton of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus nudus were quantified, and the value of their fractal dimensions (D) was determined with ImageJ 1.20s software. It was shown that during cytodifferentiation, the values of D in the fractal (fractional) dimension, which reflects the complex spatial organization of the spiculogenous mesenchyme elements in two-dimensional space, increase to values close to 1.7. The invertible treatment with cytochalasin, which destroys the system of the actin filaments, suppresses the normal control of biomineralization and causes a complex form of spicules, the fractal dimension of which varies within 1.5–1.6. Thus, the determination of the fractal dimension value serves as evidence of the fractional essence of the patterns studied, quantifies the spatially complex organization of cells and their assemblies during morphogenesis, and allows us to estimate the variation in the spicule morphology after cytochalasin treatment.
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Karetin, Y.A., Isaeva, V.V. Fractal Organization of Cultivated in vitro Spiculogenous Cells and Larval Spicules of the Sea Urchin Strongylocentrotus nudus . Russian Journal of Marine Biology 28, 344–346 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020915703530
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020915703530