Hydrodynamics of transient cell-cell contact: The role of membrane permeability and active protrusion length.

ABSTRACT: In many biological settings, two or more cells come into physical contact to form a cell-cell interface. In some cases, the cell-cell contact must be transient, forming on timescales of seconds. One example is offered by the T cell, an immune cell which must attach to the surface of other cells in order to decipher information about disease. The aspect ratio of these interfaces (tens of nanometers thick and tens of micrometers in diameter) puts them into the thin-layer limit, or "lubrication limit", of fluid dynamics. A key question is how the receptors and ligands on opposing cells come into contact. What are the relative roles of thermal undulations of the plasma membrane and deterministic forces from active filopodia? We use a computational fluid dynamics algorithm capable of simulating

SUBMITTER: Liu K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6504115 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature