Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Chemotaxis and Direction of Cell Migration

Chemotaxis and Direction of Cell Migration

Cells can detect chemical cues in their environment and reorganize the cytoskeleton to migrate toward them or away from them. This directional migration, called chemotaxis, is essential during embryogenesis and development, immune response, tissue repair and regeneration, and reproduction. These chemical cues can either attract or repel the cell's movement. For example, axon development is determined by a combination of chemoattractants and chemorepellents that direct the growing axon...

Cell Migration

Cell Migration

Cell migration is a process by which the cells move from one location to another, playing an essential role in embryological development, repair and regeneration, immune response, and metastasis. Cells migrate in response to chemical or mechanical signals generated by specific organs or tissues. The overall mechanism includes three steps - polarization, protrusion, and release. Polarization involves the formation of a distinct cell front and rear, which determines the direction of movement.

Cell Migration

Cell Migration

Cell migration, the process by which cells move from one location to another, is essential for the proper development and viability of organisms throughout their life. When cells are not able to migrate properly to their ordained locations, various disorders may occur. For example, disruption in cell migration causes chronic inflammatory diseases such as arthritis.

Cytoskeletal Coordination in Cell Migration

Cytoskeletal Coordination in Cell Migration

A migrating cell changes its shape during the cyclic events of attachment and detachment from the substratum and repositions the cell organelles correspondingly. These complex events are orchestrated by the dynamic cytoskeletal network comprising actin filaments, intermediate filaments, and microtubules. Cytoskeletal crosstalk — the direct and indirect communication between the different components — is crucial for this coordination. Direct communication involves various linker...

Role of Myosin in Cell Migration

Role of Myosin in Cell Migration

Myosins are multimeric motor proteins involved in various cellular processes such as migration, adhesion, and proliferation. Myosin II is the most common type in animal cells, which binds and cross-links actin filaments.
Myosin II is a hexamer comprising two heavy chains with globular heads and coiled-coil tails, two regulatory light chains, and two essential light chains. The ATPase sites on the myosin heads hydrolyze ATP, and the released phosphate generates the force for contraction....

Actin Polymerization and Cell Motility

Actin Polymerization and Cell Motility

Actin is a family of globular proteins that are highly abundant in eukaryotic cells. It makes up approximately 1-5% of total cell protein concentration. Actin monomers polymerize to form a complex network of polarized filaments, the actin cytoskeleton, that plays a crucial role in many cellular processes, including cell motility, division, endocytosis, and metastasis of cancer cells.
Actin cytoskeleton dynamics can produce pushing, pulling, and resistance forces that help the cell to migrate....

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Electric fields trigger ceramide-dependent vesicle budding and boost the generation of small extracellular vesicles.

Communications biology·2026

Same author

Nonuniform filament turnover, contractility, and bundle formation in disordered actomyosin networks.

Biophysical journal·2026

Same author

Reconstructing Actin Dynamics of the Leading Edge from Observational Data.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

The kinetochore corona orchestrates chromosome congression through transient microtubule interactions.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

A high-resolution temporal transcriptomic and imaging dataset of porcine wound healing.

Scientific data·2025

Same author

Guiding Cell Migration with Electric Fields: Mechanisms and Applications of Galvanotaxis.

Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Concentric Gel System to Study the Biophysical Role of Matrix Microenvironment on 3D Cell Migration

Concentric Gel System to Study the Biophysical Role of Matrix Microenvironment on 3D Cell Migration

Published on: April 3, 2015

Collective cell migration has distinct directionality and speed dynamics.

Yan Zhang^1,2,3, Guoqing Xu^4,5, Rachel M Lee⁶

¹Department of Dermatology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.

Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences : CMLS

|June 15, 2017

Summary

Cell migration directionality and speed show distinct dynamics. Directionality propagates as a wave, while speed is limited to the leading edge, both influenced by extracellular calcium.

Keywords:

Blebbistatin Cell communication Cell contractility Corneal epithelial cell PDMS Wound healing

More Related Videos

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

Published on: October 13, 2019

Quantitative Analysis of Random Migration of Cells Using Time-lapse Video Microscopy

Quantitative Analysis of Random Migration of Cells Using Time-lapse Video Microscopy

Published on: May 13, 2012

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Concentric Gel System to Study the Biophysical Role of Matrix Microenvironment on 3D Cell Migration

Concentric Gel System to Study the Biophysical Role of Matrix Microenvironment on 3D Cell Migration

Published on: April 3, 2015

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

Published on: October 13, 2019

Quantitative Analysis of Random Migration of Cells Using Time-lapse Video Microscopy

Quantitative Analysis of Random Migration of Cells Using Time-lapse Video Microscopy

Published on: May 13, 2012

Area of Science:

Cell Biology
Biophysics
Quantitative Biology

Background:

Collective cell migration is crucial for development and disease.
Mechanisms of directionality and speed propagation in migrating cells are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the distinct dynamics of migration directionality and speed in confluent cell sheets.
To explore the role of extracellular calcium and cellular interplay in regulating these dynamics.

Main Methods:

Quantitative visualization using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV).
Development and application of a particle-based compass (PBC) model.
Experimental manipulation of extracellular calcium concentrations.

Main Results:

Migration directionality increases as a wave from the leading edge, while speed increase is confined to the leading edge.
Cellular interplay and migration speed are sufficient to model directionality dynamics.
Extracellular calcium differentially regulates migration speed and directionality.

Conclusions:

Collective cell migration exhibits distinct directionality and speed dynamics.
Extracellular calcium influences these dynamics through cellular interplay.
PIV and PBC modeling offer powerful tools for studying collective cell migration mechanisms.