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Origin of variability in relaxation timescales across laser ablation experiments

Determine whether the inter-experimental differences in the viscoelastic relaxation timescales tau1 and tau2 observed in Drosophila wing epithelium after linear laser ablation arise from variability in elastic moduli (bulk or shear), variability in viscosities (bulk or shear), or from other experimental or biological factors.

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Background

The authors analyze the time-dependent strain relaxation in Drosophila wing epithelium after linear laser ablation and model the tissue as a two-dimensional elastic sheet with viscous dissipation. This framework yields two characteristic relaxation timescales (tau1 and tau2) associated with bulk and shear responses.

From two independent ablation experiments, the fitted relaxation timescales differ substantially (see Table 1). The authors explicitly state that it is unclear whether these differences are due to variability in elastic constants, viscosities, or other factors, and identify resolving this as an open question.

References

It is at the moment unclear whether the difference between the relaxation timescales in two experiments stems from variability of elastic constants or viscosity, or some other factor. While this will be an important open question to resolve in future, further investigation of relaxation timescale variability is beyond the scope of this work.

— Cell divisions imprint long lasting elastic strain fields in epithelial tissues (2406.03433 - Tahaei et al., 5 Jun 2024) in Section 2.2, Viscous dissipation determines tissue relaxation dynamics (following Table 1)