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Related Concept Videos

Cell Migration01:19

Cell Migration

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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.
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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...
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Gastrulation establishes the three primary tissues of an embryo: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. This developmental process relies on a series of intricate cellular movements, which in humans transforms a flat, “bilaminar disc” composed of two cell sheets into a three-tiered structure. In the resulting embryo, the endoderm serves as the bottom layer, and stacked directly above it is the intermediate mesoderm, and then the uppermost ectoderm. Respectively, these tissue strata...
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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...
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Cell polarity is the asymmetric distribution of cellular and membrane components, making one side of the cell different from the other. This polarity is essential to many processes such as embryogenesis, axon migration, glucose transport across epithelial cells, and directional cell migration. A migrating cell responds to intracellular or extracellular signals via molecular cascades that reorganize the actin cytoskeleton to establish this polarity. In these cells, the Rho family proteins Cdc42,...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 5, 2026

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration
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Collective Cell Migration in Development.

Linus Schumacher1

  • 1MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. Linus.Schumacher@ed.ac.uk.

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
|October 16, 2019
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Collective cell migration is crucial for tissue development, but complex interactions make it hard to predict. This chapter explores key principles like cell state heterogeneity and tissue mechanics across various biological systems.

Keywords:
Cell interactionsCell migrationCollective behaviourDevelopmental biologyMorphogenesis

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Collective cell migration drives tissue morphogenesis but is complex due to interacting cells, signaling, and microenvironmental factors.
  • Emergent behaviors in collective cell migration are often non-intuitive and challenging to predict.
  • Understanding these processes is vital for developmental biology and has implications for cancer and tissue engineering.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To discuss biological examples of collective cell migration across diverse model systems and spatial scales.
  • To illustrate key principles governing collective cell migration.
  • To propose an integrative understanding of collective cell migration in development and disease.

Main Methods:

  • Review of biological examples from various model systems (Drosophila, zebrafish) and developmental processes (gastrulation, neural crest migration, branching morphogenesis).
  • Analysis of similarities to cancer metastasis.
  • Identification and discussion of overarching principles of collective cell migration.

Main Results:

  • Examples highlight heterogeneity of cell states, substrate-free migration, contact-inhibition of locomotion, confinement, repulsive cues, cell-induced gradients, stochastic group decisions, tissue mechanics, and reprogramming of cell behaviors.
  • These principles are shown to be common across multiple biological systems.
  • Collective cell migration principles are relevant to developmental defects and cancer invasion.

Conclusions:

  • An integrative understanding of collective cell migration principles can be achieved by studying diverse biological systems.
  • These principles offer insights into developmental biology, cancer metastasis, and tissue engineering.
  • Further research into these principles may lead to strategies for repairing developmental defects and controlling cancer.