RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Fluid-dynamical basis of the embryonic development of left-right asymmetry in vertebrates
JF Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JO Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
FD National Academy of Sciences
SP 7234
OP 7239
DO 10.1073/pnas.0402001101
VO 101
IS 19
A1 Cartwright, Julyan H. E.
A1 Piro, Oreste
A1 Tuval, Idan
YR 2004
UL http://www.pnas.org/content/101/19/7234.abstract
AB Experimental work in developmental biology has recently shown in mice that fluid flow driven by rotating cilia in the node, a structure present in the early stages of growth of vertebrate embryos, is responsible for determining the normal development of the left-right axis, with the heart on the left of the body, the liver on the right, and so on. The role of physics, in particular, of fluid dynamics, in the process is one of the important questions that remain to be answered. We show with an analysis of the fluid dynamics of the nodal flow in the developing embryo that the leftward flow that has been experimentally observed may be produced by the monocilia driving it being tilted toward the posterior. We propose a model for morphogen transport and mixing in the nodal flow and discuss how the development of left-right asymmetry might be initiated.