Hydraulic and electric control of cell spheroids

Significance

In addition to generating forces and reacting to mechanical cues, tissues are capable of actively pumping fluid and creating electric current. In this work, we examine how a hydraulic or electrical perturbation, imposed, for instance, by a drain of micrometric diameter, can be used to perturb tissue growth. We address this issue in a continuum description of a spherical cell assembly that includes the mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic properties of the tissue. This approach allows us to discuss and quantify the effect of electrohydraulic perturbations on the long-time states of the tissue. We highlight that a moderate external pumping or electric current can drive a proliferating spheroid to decay. We propose that this could have applications in medicine.