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Cortical tension links curvature to tissue growth in the cellular Potts model

Kai Lennard Fastabend1, Cécile M. Bidan2, John W. C. Dunlop3, and Philip Kollmannsberger1

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Phys. Rev. E 113, 024403 – Published 12 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z152-x4l1

Abstract

The growth of biological tissue is sensitive to the physical properties of the environment. For example, the growth rate of contractile tissue under geometric confinement is proportional to local curvature as a result of tissue surface tension. It is not known how local cell behavior is coordinated to give rise to such behavior. Here we use computer simulations based on the cellular Potts model to investigate the role of cell adhesion and cortical contractility for curvature-dependent tissue growth. Our results show that tension-dependent local proliferation leads to the observed macroscopic curvature-driven growth kinetics via tissue surface tension, independent of soluble growth factors.

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Phys. Rev. E 113, 024403– Published 12 February, 2026
  • Received 3 June 2025
  • Accepted 15 January 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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