Fig 5. Tissue size, cell stiffness and cell cohesivity influence the fluid-like behavior of tissue.

(a) The relationship between velocity and radial distance is examined for three systems with varying radius, while keeping the number density approximately same for all. The number of cells in the systems are taken as N = {1170, 520, 130} for R = {15, 10, 5}, respectively. The values of other parameters are chosen as that of the previous simulations. It is observed that, while keeping the number density constant, with increase in system size, the velocity versus radial-distance profile become less linear as more number of cells tend to move with a velocity comparable to v ₀; this shows the presence of shear strain rate in the system (see S19 Video). (b) Increase in cell stiffness by increasing the value of compressive stiffness (k _c) of a system will make the system stiff and resulting rotational behavior will be more like a solid. (c) Reduction in cell cohesivity (k _t) leads to fluid-like tissue behavior.