Quasi-periodic migration of single cells on short microlanes

Abstract

Cell migration on microlanes represents a suitable and simple platform for the exploration of the molecular mechanisms underlying cell cytoskeleton dynamics. Here, we report on the quasi-periodic movement of cells confined in stripe-shaped microlanes. We observe persistent polarized cell shapes and directed pole-to-pole motion within the microlanes. Cells depolarize at one end of a given microlane, followed by delayed repolarization towards the opposite end. We analyze cell motility via the spatial velocity distribution, the velocity frequency spectrum and the reversal time as a measure for depolarization and spontaneous repolarization of cells at the microlane ends. The frequent encounters of a boundary in the stripe geometry provides a robust framework for quantitative investigations of the cytoskeleton protrusion and repolarization dynamics. In a first advance to rigorously test physical models of cell migration, we find that the statistics of the cell migration is recapitulated by a Cellular Potts model with a minimal description of cytoskeleton dynamics. Using LifeAct-GFP transfected cells and microlanes with differently shaped ends, we show that the local deformation of the leading cell edge in response to the tip geometry can locally either amplify or quench actin polymerization, while leaving the average reversal times unaffected.

More than just a barrier: using physical models to couple membrane shape to cell function

“…175 Furthermore, computer simulations of the motion of flexocytes (vesicles with enclosed filaments) suggest that cell shape and the persistence of trajectories of migrating cells correlate. 176 Another method to address the shape of migrating cells are cellular Potts models, 173,[177][178][179] in which crawling cells are discretized on a lattice. Individual lattice sites can be added or removed from cells, allowing the cells to fluctuate and move over (simulation) time.…”

Tissue flow through pores: a computational study

“…Models of this kind have successfully in reproduced the cellular dynamics of single cells moving in stripe-shaped environments [43] and on substrates of varying stiffness, [44] as well as small numbers of cells in circular [45] or channel-shaped [46] environments, and cell sheets of 2000+ cells expanding into free space [22, 47]. We therefore would argue that the CPM, despite its simple structure, captures essential features of the complex mechanisms that govern real-world epithelial cell dynamics, and permit general predictions of the behaviour of cells under in-vitro conditions.…”

Modelling the collective mechanical regulation of the structure and morphology of epithelial cell layers

“…To simulate collective morphology of cells emerging through their mechanical properties and interactions on a substrate, we use a two-dimensional CPM [23,24] which represents a cross-section of cells on a substrate on a plane perpendicular to the substrate. The CPM is an on-lattice model which is computationally simpler than most off-lattice models, e.g., vertex model [27,28] and has been used to capture essential realistic features of epithelial cell dynamics [25], e.g., the dynamics of cell migration on short microlanes [29], circular micropatterns [30], and in a confluent sheet expanding into a free region [26].…”