Tissue as a self-organizing system with fractal dynamics.

Cell is a supramolecular dynamic network. Screening of tissue-specific cDNA library and results of Relative RT-PCR indicate that the relationship between genotype, (i.e., dynamic network of genes and their protein regulatory elements) and phenotype is non-bijective, and mendelian inheritance is a special case only. This implies non-linearity, complexity, and quasi-determinism, (i.e., co-existence of deterministic and non-deterministic events) of dynamic cellular network; prerequisite conditions for the existence of fractal structure. Indeed, the box counting method reveals that morphological patterns of the higher order, such as gland-like structures or populations of differentiating cancer cells possess fractal dimension and self-similarity. Since fractal space is not filled out randomly, a variety of morphological patterns of functional states arises. The expansion coefficient characterizes evolution of fractal dynamics. The coefficient indicates what kind of interactions occurs between cells, and how far from the limiting integer dimension of the Euclidean space the expanding population of cells is. We conclude that cellular phenomena occur in the fractal space; aggregation of cells is a supracollective phenomenon (expansion coefficient > 0), and differentiation is a collective one (expansion coefficient < 0). Fractal dimension or self-similarity are lost during tumor progression. The existence of fractal structure in a complex tissue system denotes that dynamic cellular phenomena generate an attractor with the appropriate organization of space-time. And vice versa, this attractor sets up physical limits for cellular phenomena during their interactions with various fields. This relationship can help to understand the emergence of extraterrestial forms of life. Although those forms can be composed of non-carbon molecules, fractal structure appears to be the common feature of all interactive biosystems. c2001 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.