Collective motion of cells crawling on a substrate: roles of cell shape and contact inhibition.

ABSTRACT: Contact inhibition plays a crucial role in cell motility, wound healing, and tumour formation. By mimicking the mechanical motion of cells crawling on a substrate, we constructed a minimal model of migrating cells that naturally gives rise to contact inhibition of locomotion (CIL). The model cell consists of two disks, a front disk (a pseudopod) and a back disk (cell body), which are connected by a finite extensible spring. Despite the simplicity of the model, the collective behaviour of the cells is highly non-trivial and depends on both the shape of the cells and whether CIL is enabled. Cells with a small front disk (i.e., a narrow pseudopod) form immobile colonies. In contrast, cells with a large front disk (e.g., a lamellipodium) exhibit coherent migration without any explicit alignmen

SUBMITTER: Schnyder SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5507894 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature