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Elastic interactions compete with persistent cell motility to drive durotaxis.

Subhaya Bose1, Haiqin Wang2, Xinpeng Xu2

  • 1Department of Physics, University of California, Merced, Merced, California.

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|September 27, 2024
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Summary

This study models single-cell durotaxis, explaining how cell contractility and motility influence migration towards stiffer substrates. The model predicts distinct migration regimes based on these factors.

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Area of Science:

  • Biophysics
  • Cell Biology
  • Theoretical Biology

Background:

  • Many animal cells exhibit durotaxis, migrating towards stiffer extracellular substrates.
  • This phenomenon is crucial for biological processes like tissue development and tumor progression.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To introduce a phenomenological model for single-cell durotaxis.
  • To incorporate elastic deformation-mediated cell-substrate interactions and cell migration stochasticity.
  • To explain cell behavior at substrate interfaces and predict durotaxis dynamics.

Main Methods:

  • Modeling migrating cells as self-propelling agents exerting contractile traction forces.
  • Developing an elastic potential to capture cell-substrate interactions and boundary effects.
  • Analyzing steady-state position and orientation probability densities.

Main Results:

  • The model identifies two key parameters: elastic interaction strength (A) and motility persistence (Pe).
  • Clamped boundaries induce attractive potentials driving durotaxis; free boundaries induce repulsive potentials preventing antidurotaxis.
  • A phase diagram reveals three regimes: durotaxis, and antidurotaxis with/without motility-induced accumulation.

Conclusions:

  • The model successfully explains previous durotaxis observations.
  • It predicts how cell contractility and motility govern durotaxis.
  • Provides testable predictions for future experimental validation.