Morphology and Motility of Cells on Soft Substrates

Recent experiments suggest that the interplay between cells and the mechanics of their substrate gives rise to a diversity of morphological and migrational behaviors. Here, we develop a Cellular Potts Model of polarizing cells on a visco-elastic substrate. We compare our model with experiments on en...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2018-08
Main Authors: Goychuk, Andriy, Brückner, David B, Holle, Andrew W, Spatz, Joachim P, Broedersz, Chase P, Frey, Erwin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Endothelial cells
Hydrogels
Model testing
Morphology
Polarization
Substrates
Traction force
Viscoelasticity
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Recent experiments suggest that the interplay between cells and the mechanics of their substrate gives rise to a diversity of morphological and migrational behaviors. Here, we develop a Cellular Potts Model of polarizing cells on a visco-elastic substrate. We compare our model with experiments on endothelial cells plated on polyacrylamide hydrogels to constrain model parameters and test predictions. Our analysis reveals that morphology and migratory behavior are determined by an intricate interplay between cellular polarization and substrate strain gradients generated by traction forces exerted by cells (self-haptotaxis).
ISSN:2331-8422