A multiphysics analysis of the strain energy in multicellular environments

Abstract

This letter considers the strain energy distribution in cell assemblies. Our scalable model consists of N-core-shell spherical structures modeling biological cells with assumptions based on two fundamental premises. First, we use a finite element in the framework of time-domain to solve for the electrodeformation and cell electroporation when a well-defined electrical stimulus is delivered to a multicellular environment. Second, the strain-stress response of the cell assemblies is characterized by a relaxation time which is much larger than the time constant of the membrane charging. A “switch off” (corresponding to times after electrical pulsing) phenomenon observed in the strain energy signal might provide an interesting discriminant test capable of providing different information on the proximity (coupling) effect between cell and assembly anisotropy depending on the type of electrical stimulus employed. In the explicit examples we study, we learn up to date facts about how the local enhancement of the electric field, deformation of the cell, strain energy, and relative area occupied by the pores are modified by varying the intercellular distance distribution.