On the viscous deformation of biological cells under anisotropic surface tension

A fluid-mechanical approach for the cleavage of biological cells is presented. The equations of motion were combined with concentration and orientation distribution balances, for active contractile filaments on the cell surface, to provide a dynamic evolution of interfacial forces and deformation. The resulting flow and the simultaneously developing surface-tension anisotropy provided a mechanism that facilitates the generation of a contractile ring at the cell equator: a major organelle in the establishment of cell furrow and the ultimate cleavage. The moving-boundary problem was solved numerically using boundary-integral representation for the Stokes equations which was modified to incorporate the anisotropic interfacial tensions.