A minimal mechanosensing model predicts keratocyte evolution on flexible substrates

A mathematical model is proposed for shape evolution and locomotion of fish epidermal keratocytes on elastic substrates. The model is based on mechanosensing concepts: cells apply contractile forces onto the elastic substrate, while cell shape evolution depends locally on the substrate stress generated by themselves or external mechanical stimuli acting on the substrate. We use the level set method to study the behaviour of the model numerically, and predict a number of distinct phenomena observed in experiments, such as (i) symmetry breaking from the stationary centrosymmetric to the well-known steadily propagating crescent shape, (ii) asymmetric bipedal oscillations and travelling waves in the lamellipodium leading edge, (iii) response to remote mechanical stress externally applied to the substrate (tensotaxis) and (iv) changing direction of motion towards an interface with a rigid substrate (durotaxis).

• Publication year

  2018

• Venue

  Journal of the Royal Society Interface

• Publication date

  2018-03-25

• Fields of study

  Biology, Materials Science, Physics, Engineering, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1098/rsif.2020.0175arXiv 1803.09220PMID 32370690PMCID PMC7276546
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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