Cytomechanics of cell deformations and migration: from models to experiments

A cytomechanical model bas been proposed to analyse cell-cell interactions and cell migration through chemotaxis. We consider as the leading assumption that the cell cortical tension is locally modified by the protrusive activity of neighbour cells and binding of chemoattractant molecules to membrane receptors respectively. The model derives from the one initially proposed by Alt and Tranquillo (1995), which successfully describes experimentally observed cyclic autonomous cell shape changes. It is based on force balance equations coupling intracellular hydrostatic pressure and cell cortex contraction. Considering the protrusive dynamics of L929 fibroblats observed by videomicroscopy, we simulated the influence of neighbouring protrusions on a cell spontaneous pulsating behaviour. We further investigated the role of an extracellular gradient as another kind of external stimulus. The model illustrates how binding of chemoattractant molecules can induce a cell morphological instability that, above an intracellular stress threshold, will break the cell-substratum attachment. As a result, realistic cell chemotaxis can be simulated.