Spontaneous migration of cellular aggregates from giant keratocytes to running spheroids.

ABSTRACT: Despite extensive knowledge on the mechanisms that drive single-cell migration, those governing the migration of cell clusters, as occurring during embryonic development and cancer metastasis, remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the collective migration of cell on adhesive gels with variable rigidity, using 3D cellular aggregates as a model system. After initial adhesion to the substrate, aggregates spread by expanding outward a cell monolayer, whose dynamics is optimal in a narrow range of rigidities. Fast expansion gives rise to the accumulation of mechanical tension that leads to the rupture of cell-cell contacts and the nucleation of holes within the monolayer, which becomes unstable and undergoes dewetting like a liquid film. This leads to a symmetry breaking and causes the

SUBMITTER: Beaune G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6304987 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature