scholarly journals Nonmotile Single-Cell Migration as a Random Walk in Nonuniformity: The “Extreme Dumping Limit” for Cell-to-Cell Communications

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Grigorios P. Panotopoulos ◽  
Sebastian Aguayo ◽  
Ziyad S. Haidar

In the present work, we model single-cell movement as a random walk in an external potential observed within the extreme dumping limit, which we define herein as the extreme nonuniform behavior observed for cell responses and cell-to-cell communications. Starting from the Newton–Langevin equation of motion, we solve the corresponding Fokker–Planck equation to compute higher moments of the displacement of the cell, and then we build certain quantities that can be measurable experimentally. We show that, each time, the dynamics depend on the external force applied, leading to predictions distinct from the standard results of a free Brownian particle. Our findings demonstrate that cell migration viewed as a stochastic process is still compatible with biological and experimental observations without the need to rely on more complicated or sophisticated models proposed previously in the literature.

Author(s):  
Marina B. Cuenca ◽  
Lucía Canedo ◽  
Carolina Perez-Castro ◽  
Hernan E. Grecco

Cell migration has been a subject of study in a broad variety of biological systems, from morphogenetic events during development to cancer progression. In this work, we describe single-cell movement in a modular framework from which we simulate the collective behavior of glioblastoma cells, the most prevalent and malignant primary brain tumor. We used the U87 cell line, which can be grown as a monolayer or spatially closely packed and organized in 3D structures called spheroids. Our integrative model considers the most relevant mechanisms involved in cell migration: chemotaxis of attractant factor, mechanical interactions and random movement. The effect of each mechanism is integrated into the overall probability of the cells to move in a particular direction, in an automaton-like approach. Our simulations fit and reproduced the emergent behavior of the spheroids in a set of migration assays where single-cell trajectories were tracked. We also predicted the effect of migration inhibition on the colonies from simple experimental characterization of single treated cell tracks. The development of tools that allow complementing molecular knowledge in migratory cell behavior is relevant for understanding essential cellular processes, both physiological (such as organ formation, tissue regeneration among others) and pathological perspectives. Overall, this is a versatile tool that has been proven to predict individual and collective behavior in U87 cells, but that can be applied to a broad variety of scenarios.


Development ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-125
Author(s):  
Madeleine Gumpel-Pinot ◽  
D. A. Ede ◽  
O. P. Flint

Fragments of quail wing bud containing myogenic cells of somitic origin and fragments of quail sphlanchopleural tissue were introduced into the interior of the wing bud of fowl embryo hosts. No movement of graft into host tissue occurred in the control, but myogenic cells from the quail wing bud fragments underwent long migrations in an apical direction to become incorporated in the developing musculature of the host. When the apical ectodermal ridge (AER), together with some subridge mesenchyme, was removed at the time of grafting, no such cell migration occurred. The capacity of grafted myogenic cells to migrate in the presence of AER persists to H.H. stage 25, when myogenesis has begun, but premyogenic cells in the somites, which normally migrate out into the early limb bud, do not migrate when somite fragments are grafted into the wing bud. Coelomic grafts of apical and proximal wing fragments showed that apical sections of quail wing buds become invaded by myogenic cells of the host, but grafts from proximal wing bud regions do not.


2006 ◽  
Vol 176 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Sahai ◽  
Raquel Garcia-Medina ◽  
Jacques Pouysségur ◽  
Emmanuel Vial

Rho GTPases participate in various cellular processes, including normal and tumor cell migration. It has been reported that RhoA is targeted for degradation at the leading edge of migrating cells by the E3 ubiquitin ligase Smurf1, and that this is required for the formation of protrusions. We report that Smurf1-dependent RhoA degradation in tumor cells results in the down-regulation of Rho kinase (ROCK) activity and myosin light chain 2 (MLC2) phosphorylation at the cell periphery. The localized inhibition of contractile forces is necessary for the formation of lamellipodia and for tumor cell motility in 2D tissue culture assays. In 3D invasion assays, and in in vivo tumor cell migration, the inhibition of Smurf1 induces a mesenchymal–amoeboid–like transition that is associated with a more invasive phenotype. Our results suggest that Smurf1 is a pivotal regulator of tumor cell movement through its regulation of RhoA signaling.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. e100042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew M. Crane ◽  
Ivan B. N. Clark ◽  
Elco Bakker ◽  
Stewart Smith ◽  
Peter S. Swain

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Plank ◽  
B. D. Sleeman ◽  
P. F. Jones

Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels from existing ones, is an important, yet not fully understood, process and is involved in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetic retinopathy and solid tumour growth. Central to the process of angiogenesis are endothelial cells (EC), which line all blood vessels, and are capable of forming new capillaries by migration, proliferation and lumen formation. We construct a cell-based mathematical model of an experiment (Vernon, R.B. and Sage, E.H. (1999) “A novel, quantitative model for study of endothelial cell migration and sprout formation within three-dimensional collagen matrices”,Microvasc. Res.57, 118–133) carried out to assess the response of EC to various diffusible angiogenic factors, which is a crucial part of angiogenesis. The model for cell movement is based on the theory of reinforced random walks and includes both chemotaxis and chemokinesis. Three-dimensional simulations are run and the results correlate well with the experimental data. The experiment cannot easily distinguish between chemotactic and chemokinetic effects of the angiogenic factors. We, therefore, also run two-dimensional simulations of a hypothetical experiment, with a point source of angiogenic factor. This enables directed (gradient-driven) EC migration to be investigated independently of undirected (diffusion-driven) migration.


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