Ring-Shaped Microlanes and Chemical Barriers as a Platform for Probing Single-Cell Migration.

ABSTRACT: Quantification and discrimination of pharmaceutical and disease-related effects on cell migration requires detailed characterization of single-cell motility. In this context, micropatterned substrates that constrain cells within defined geometries facilitate quantitative readout of locomotion. Here, we study quasi-one-dimensional cell migration in ring-shaped microlanes. We observe bimodal behavior in form of alternating states of directional migration (run state) and reorientation (rest state). Both states show exponential lifetime distributions with characteristic persistence times, which, together with the cell velocity in the run state, provide a set of parameters that succinctly describe cell motion. By introducing PEGylated barriers of different widths into the lane, we extend this d

SUBMITTER: Schreiber C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4886529 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature