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Updated: Jun 3, 2026
07:47
Characterizing Epithelial Wound Healing In Vivo Using the Cnidarian Model Organism Clytia hemisphaerica
Published on: February 10, 2023
Crawling cells can close wounds without purse strings or signaling
Pilhwa Lee1, Charles W Wolgemuth
1Department of Cell Biology and Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, United States of America.
Plos Computational Biology
|March 23, 2011
Summary
Epithelial cells migrate to heal wounds, driven primarily by mechanical forces rather than cell signaling. This study models collective cell migration, revealing mechanics as the dominant factor in wound closure.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Cell Biology
- Tissue Engineering
Background:
- Epithelial wound healing involves cell movement to close defects.
- Mechanisms include cortical actin contraction (purse string) and cell crawling.
- Cell signaling is proposed to direct cell migration into denuded areas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a biophysical model of collective epithelial cell migration during wound healing.
- To quantitatively capture wound closure dynamics and observed cellular flows.
- To investigate the relative roles of mechanics and cell signaling in epithelial wound healing.
Main Methods:
- Developed a biophysical model based on single-cell motility and cell-cell interactions.
- Simulated collective cell migration in a confluent epithelial monolayer.
- Analyzed cellular flows and wound closure dynamics.
Main Results:
- The model quantitatively reproduces the dynamics of wound closure.
- The model captures complex, correlated cellular motions observed experimentally.
- Wound closure occurs even when peripheral cells are deactivated, supporting a mechanical basis.
Conclusions:
- Epithelial wound healing is predominantly a mechanical process.
- Collective cell migration is driven by cell-cell interactions and individual cell motility.
- Cell signaling modifies, but does not primarily produce, the collective cell migration observed in wound healing.
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