Journal
MULTISCALE MODELING & SIMULATION
Volume 3, Issue 2, Pages 413-439Publisher
SIAM PUBLICATIONS
DOI: 10.1137/04060370X
Keywords
cell motility; actin; lamellipodium; free boundary problem; keratocyte
Funding
- NIGMS NIH HHS [U54 GM064346] Funding Source: Medline
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES [U54GM064346] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Cell crawling is an important biological phenomenon underlying coordinated cell movement in morphogenesis, cancer, and wound healing. In recent decades the process of cell crawling has been experimentally and theoretically dissected into further subprocesses: protrusion of the cell at its leading edge, retraction of the cell body, and graded adhesion. A number of one-dimensional (1-D) models explain successfully a proximal-distal organization and movement of the motile cell. However, more adequate two-dimensional (2-D) models are lacking. We propose a multiscale 2-D computational model of the lamellipodium ( motile appendage) of a simply shaped, rapidly crawling fish keratocyte cell. We couple submodels of (i) protrusion and adhesion at the leading edge, (ii) the elastic 2-D lamellipodial actin network, (iii) the actin-myosin contractile bundle at the rear edge, and (iv) the convection-reaction-diffusion actin transport on the free boundary lamellipodial domain. We simulate the combined model numerically using a finite element approach. The simulations reproduce observed cell shapes, forces, and movements and explain some experimental results on perturbations of the actin machinery. This novel 2-D model of the crawling cell makes testable predictions and posits questions to be answered by future modeling.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available