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Physical Mechanisms of Branching Morphogenesis in Animals

From Viscous Fingering to Cartilage Rings

  • Chapter
Branching Morphogenesis

Part of the book series: Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit ((MBIU))

Abstract

From a physicist“s point of view, and regardless of the genetic controls, the branching mechanisms of many organs and glands look similar. Most generally, an epithelium forms a pouch-like sheet which elongates and branches repeatedly. During the final steps of organogenesis, the mesenchyme is vascularized in a pattern greatly influenced by the branched epithelium so that main vessels go down (arteries) and up (veins) the main ducts towards distal branches where exchange with capillaries is performed over a very large total surface area. This principle of construction can produce a secretory or filtering or breathing organ and most glands and organs are built in this way. There is either a common phylogeny to all branching organs (see Chapter 1), or there is some simple building principle which impUes easy construction and hence straightforward evolutionary convergence (Fig. 1).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condesée Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau Cedex, France

    Vincent Fleury, Tomoko Watanabe, Thi-Hanh Nguyen & Mathieu Unbekandt

  2. Department of Pediatric Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

    David Warburton, Marcus Dejmek & Minh Binh Nguyen

  3. Laboratoire des Milieux Désordonnés et Hétérogènes, Université Paris 6, Paris Cedex, France

    Anke Lindner

  4. Laboratoire LPICM, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau Cedex, France

    Laurent Schwartz

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  1. Vincent Fleury
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  2. Tomoko Watanabe
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  9. Laurent Schwartz
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Fleury, V. et al. (2005). Physical Mechanisms of Branching Morphogenesis in Animals. In: Branching Morphogenesis. Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30873-3_12

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