Active gels as a description of the actin-myosin cytoskeleton

This short review presents a qualitative introduction to the hydrodynamic theory of active polar gels and its applications to the mechanics of the cytoskeleton. Active polar gels are viscoelastic materials formed by polar filaments maintained in a nonequilibrium state by constant consumption of energy. In the cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells, actin filaments are treadmilling and form a viscoelastic gel interacting with myosin molecular motors driven by the hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate; one can thus consider the actomyosin cytoskeleton as an active polar gel. The hydrodynamic description is generic as it only relies on symmetry arguments. We first use the hydrodynamic approach to discuss the spontaneous generation of flow in an active polar film. Then we give two examples of applications to lamellipodium motility and to instabilities of cortical actin.