Pushing off the walls: a mechanism of cell motility in confinement

Abstract

We propose a novel mechanism of cell motility, which relies on the coupling of actin polymerization at the cell membrane to geometric confinement. We consider a polymerizing viscoelastic cytoskeletal gel confined in a narrow channel, and show analytically that spontaneous motion occurs. Interestingly, this does not require specific adhesion with the channel walls, and yields velocities potentially larger than the polymerization velocity. The contractile activity of myosin motors is not necessary to trigger motility in this mechanism, but is shown quantitatively to increase the velocity. Our model qualitatively accounts for recent experiments which show that cells without specific adhesion proteins are motile only in confined environments while they are unable to move on a flat surface, and could help in understanding the mechanisms of cell migration in more complex confined geometries such as living tissues.

4 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Steady-state hydrodynamic instabilities of active liquid crystals: Hybrid lattice Boltzmann simulations
• Generic phase diagram of active polar films
• Viscous Fingering-like Instability of Cell Fragments

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Nonequilibrium Physics in Biology
• Swimming Euglena respond to confinement with a behavioural change enabling effective crawling
• Velocity alignment leads to high persistence in confined cells
• Exact correlations in a single file system with a driven tracer
• Boundary induced convection in a collection of polar self-propelled particles
• Initiation of motility on a compliant substrate
• The role of vimentin-nuclear interactions in persistent cell motility through confined spaces