A research team at the Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) has established a self-similar hierarchical structure model that reveals the rheological response mechanism of the scaling law of living cells by considering the cellular structure of many cell components, as well as a self-similar multi-level structural theoretical model inspired by the structural model.

Different types of cells show uniform scaling law behavior.

The team, led by Professor Xu Guangkui at XJTU's School of Aerospace Engineering, revealed the formation mechanism of scaling law rheology, discovered the regulation of cell stiffness in the change of scaling law index, and found the unified relationship between scaling law index and cell stiffness and corresponding physical laws.

It shows that the universal scaling law response of cellular materials mainly depends on their uniform structural characteristics, rather than specific molecular characteristics.

This research provides a theoretical basis for the biomimetic design and application of biological materials, and also offers new ideas and theoretical guidance for medical diagnosis, drug development, and prognosis evaluation.

Rheological response of cell's scaling law

Self-similar cellular hierarchical structure model

The research results were published online on October 18 in Nature Communications, entitled A hierarchical cellular structural model to unravel the universal power-law rheological behavior of living cells.

Hang Jiutao, PhD student of the XJTU Multiscale Mechanics and Medical Science Lab, is the first author of the research. Xu and Professor Gao Huajian of Nanyang Technological University are corresponding authors. The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Link to the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26283-y