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Related Concept Videos

Cell Migration01:09

Cell Migration

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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.
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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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Cytoskeletal Coordination in Cell Migration01:32

Cytoskeletal Coordination in Cell Migration

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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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Role of Myosin in Cell Migration01:18

Role of Myosin in Cell Migration

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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....
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Intracellular Signaling Affects Focal Adhesions01:17

Intracellular Signaling Affects Focal Adhesions

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Integrins act both as extracellular input receivers and as intracellular processing activators. As their name suggests, integrins are entirely integrated into the membrane structure. Their hydrophobic membrane-spanning regions interact with the phospholipid bilayer's hydrophobic region. These membrane receptors provide extracellular attachment sites for effectors like hormones and growth factors. They activate intracellular response cascades when their effectors are bound and active.
Some...
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Adherens Junctions01:24

Adherens Junctions

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Strong contact points between adjacent cells anchor them to each other, forming tissues. Such anchoring junctions are of two types –  adherens junctions and desmosomes. Adherens junctions are abundant in tissues such as  epithelium and endothelium, forming a continuous zone of adhesion called the adhesion belt. In other tissues, such as  heart muscle, they appear as clusters, linking the cells to produce coordinated heart muscle contraction.
Adherens Junctions are Dynamic
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 9, 2025

Creating Adhesive and Soluble Gradients for Imaging Cell Migration with Fluorescence Microscopy
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Intermediate adhesion maximizes migration velocity of multicellular clusters.

Ushasi Roy1,2, Andrew Mugler1,3

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.

Physical Review. E
|April 17, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Cell clusters migrate optimally with intermediate adhesion, balancing contact and movement. This finding is crucial for understanding collective cell migration in biological processes like wound healing and cancer metastasis.

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Area of Science:

  • Biophysics
  • Cell Biology
  • Statistical Physics

Background:

  • Cellular collections exhibit coordinated movement in vital biological processes such as development, cancer spread, and tissue repair.
  • The relationship between individual cell adhesion, overall cluster behavior, and migration speed is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the collective migration of cell clusters in response to chemical gradients.
  • To explore the impact of cell-cell adhesion strength on cluster dynamics and migration velocity.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a lattice gas model for a simplified description of cell migration.
  • Employed the cellular Potts model to simulate cell shape changes and cluster rearrangements.
  • Analyzed one- and two-dimensional cell clusters tracking chemical gradients via contact inhibition of locomotion.

Main Results:

  • Identified an optimal cell adhesion strength that maximizes cluster migration speed.
  • Demonstrated that this optimum arises from a balance between maintaining cell-cell contacts and allowing for configurational freedom.
  • Observed maximal variability in cluster aspect ratio as a key indicator.

Conclusions:

  • Intermediate cell-cell adhesion provides a collective benefit for cluster migration.
  • The findings offer insights into the biophysical mechanisms governing collective cell migration.
  • Suggests that modulating cell adhesion could be a strategy for controlling cell cluster dynamics.