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Time-dependent active force drives periodic reversal in collective cell migration
Chen-He Li1, Xu Yin1, Shuang-Quan He1
1Laboratory for Multiscale Mechanics and Medical Science, Department of Engineering Mechanics, State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, School of Aerospace Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
Biophysical Journal
|August 15, 2025
Summary
Collective cell migration exhibits spontaneous rotation reversals in confined spaces, driven by cell polarity memory. This study identifies distinct migration modes and their underlying mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Cell biology
- Biophysics
- Computational biology
Background:
- Collective cell migration is crucial for development, wound healing, and metastasis.
- Understanding cell-cell interactions and motility mechanisms in confined environments is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate collective cell migration in an annulus domain.
- Explore the influence of individual cell polarity memory and confinement size.
- Characterize different collective cell motion modes.
Main Methods:
- Developed an active vertex model.
- Simulated spatiotemporal behavior of confined collective cells.
- Introduced a polar order parameter to classify motion.
Main Results:
- Observed spontaneous, periodic reversals in cell rotation direction, initiated at the inner boundary.
- Identified polarity delay with velocity and passive forces as key contributors to reversals.
- Found reversal frequency depends on memory decay rate but not activity strength.
- Characterized four distinct dynamic regimes: global rotation, periodic reversal, oscillation, and local swirling.
Conclusions:
- Established a framework for collective cell migration under geometric confinement.
- Highlighted the role of polarity memory and confinement in dictating migration patterns.
- Underscored the importance of molecular rearrangement timescales in cell polarization.
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