Universal Statistical Laws for the Velocities of Collective Migrating Cells

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Developmental Biology
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Collective cell migration is crucial for tissue morphogenesis.
• Understanding the statistical behavior of migrating cells is key to comprehending tissue dynamics.
• Previous models often rely on classical statistical mechanics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the statistical distribution of cell velocities in 2D confluent cell monolayers.
• To identify the underlying statistical laws governing collective cell migration.
• To explore the relationship between cell-level heterogeneity and tissue-level behavior.

Main Methods:

• Large-scale, long-term experiments measuring cell velocities in various cell types on different substrates.
• Analysis of statistical distributions of cell speeds.
• Application of non-canonical statistical mechanics (q-Gaussian statistics) and Tsallis entropy.

Main Results:

• A linear relationship was found between the variability and mean of cell speeds during jamming.
• The probability density function of cell velocities follows q-Gaussian statistics universally.
• Tsallis entropy, not Boltzmann-Gibbs entropy, governs collective cell migration statistics.
• Cell-cell interactions were identified as the source of this universal law.

Conclusions:

• Collective cell migration exhibits universal statistical behavior governed by non-canonical statistics.
• Tsallis entropy provides a more accurate framework for describing collective cell migration than classical entropy.
• These findings offer insights into embryonic development and tumor growth by linking cell heterogeneity to tissue dynamics.