Emergence and Persistence of Collective Cell Migration on Small Circular Micropatterns

Abstract

The spontaneous formation of vortices is a hallmark of collective cellular activity. Here, we study the onset and persistence of coherent angular motion (CAMo) as a function of the number of cells $N$ confined in circular micropatterns. We find that the persistence of CAMo increases with $N$ but exhibits a pronounced discontinuity accompanied by a geometric rearrangement of cells to a configuration containing a central cell. Computer simulations based on a generalized Potts model reproduce the emergence of vortex states and show in agreement with experiment that their stability depends on the interplay of spatial arrangement and internal polarization of neighboring cells. Hence, the distinct migrational states in finite size ensembles reveal significant insight into the local interaction rules guiding collective migration.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Novel type of phase transition in a system of self-driven particles
• Phase transition in the collective migration of tissue cells: experiment and model
• Swarming and swirling in self-propelled polar granular rods

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