The cell tissue of animals and plants is traversed by a complex vascular network, the blood vessels. The vascular network supplies cells in a tissue with nutrients. Animals can dilate individual capillaries to distribute nutrients differently in the vascular network. How do the capillaries have to be dilated to transport more nutrients to a specific area of the cell tissue? Does the change in nutrient availability for a cell strongly depend on the position of the cell in the tissue? Do vascular networks have a specific structure that allows them to precisely control nutrient supply to cells when only certain areas of cell tissue require more nutrients? To find out more read the article:
Robust increase in supply by vessel dilation in globally coupled microvasculature.
Felix Meigel, Peter Cha, Michael P. Brenner & Karen Alim,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 228103 (2019). (PDF)
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