Emergence of structure in mouse embryos : structural entropy morphometry applied to digital models of embryonic anatomy

Waites, William and Davies, Jamie A. (2019) Emergence of structure in mouse embryos : structural entropy morphometry applied to digital models of embryonic anatomy. Journal of Anatomy, 235 (4). pp. 706-715. ISSN 1469-7580 (https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13031)

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Abstract

We apply an information-theoretic measure to anatomical models of the Edinburgh Mouse Atlas Project. Our goal is to quantify the anatomical complexity of the embryo and to understand how this quantity changes as the organism develops through time. Our measure, Structural Entropy, takes into account the geometrical character of the intermingling of tissue types in the embryo. It does this by a mathematical process that effectively imagines a point-like explorer that starts at an arbitrary place in the 3D structure of the embryo and takes a random path through the embryo, recording the sequence of tissues through which it passes. Consideration of a large number of such paths yields a probability distribution of paths making connections between specific tissue types, and Structural Entropy is calculated from this (mathematical details are given in the main text). We find that Structural Entropy generally decreases (order increases) almost linearly throughout developmental time (4–18 days). There is one `blip’ of increased Structural Entropy across days 7–8: this corresponds to gastrulation. Our results highlight the potential for mathematical techniques to provide insight into the development of anatomical structure, and also the need for further sources of accurate 3D anatomical data to support analyses of this kind.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:84499
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 October 2019
    Published
    5 July 2019
    Published Online
    21 May 2019
    Accepted
    Notes:Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dr Katie Brooks for critical reading of the manuscript and the anonymous reviewers, whose feedback has resulted in a much better and substantially more accessible article. W.W. acknowledges the support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant EP/J02175X/1, J.A.D. acknowledges the support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant BB/M018040/1, and W.W. and J.A.D. both acknowledge support from the UK Research Councils Synthetic Biology for Growth programme, the BBSRC, EPSRC and the MRC. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Anatomy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Anatomical Society
    Subjects:Science > Mathematics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Computer and Information Sciences
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:02 Mar 2023 11:04
    Last modified:09 Apr 2024 03:54
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/84499
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