Maintaining the structure of the cornea is essential for high-quality vision. In adult mammals, corneal epithelial cells emanate from stem cells in the limbus, driven by an unknown mechanism towards the centre of the cornea as cohesive clonal groups. Here we use complementary mathematical and biological models to show that corneal epithelial cells can self-organize into a cohesive, centripetal growth pattern in the absence of external physiological cues. Three conditions are required: a circumferential location of stem cells, a limited number of cell divisions and mobility in response to population pressure. We have used these complementary models to provide explanations for the increased rate of centripetal migration caused by wounding and the potential for stem cell leakage to account for stable transplants derived from central corneal tissue, despite the predominantly limbal location of stem cells.

中文翻译：

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在没有外部提示的情况下角膜上皮的自组织向心运动。

保持角膜结构对于高质量视力至关重要。在成年哺乳动物中，角膜上皮细胞起源于角膜缘的干细胞，这是由未知的机制驱动的角膜上皮细胞作为具有凝聚力的克隆群。在这里，我们使用互补的数学和生物学模型来显示角膜上皮细胞可以在没有外部生理线索的情况下自组织成凝聚的向心生长模式。需要三个条件：干细胞的圆周位置，有限数量的细胞分裂和响应种群压力的迁移性。我们使用了这些互补模型来解释由伤口引起的向心迁移率增加以及干细胞渗漏的可能性，以说明源自中央角膜组织的稳定移植物，