Footnote:
Hinweis: Link zur Erstveröffentlichung URL: https://dx.doig.org/10.1088/1367-2630/14/11/115012
Description:
Collective cell migration is an important feature of wound healing,
as well as embryonic and tumor development. The origin of collective cell
migration is mainly intercellular interactions through effects such as a line
tension preventing cells from detaching from the boundary. In contrast, in this
study, we show for the first time that the formation of a constant cell front of a
monolayer can also be maintained by the dynamics of the underlying migrating
single cells. Ballistic motion enables the maintenance of the integrity of the
sheet, while a slowed down dynamics and glass-like behavior cause jamming of
cells at the front when two monolayers—even of the same cell type—meet. By
employing a velocity autocorrelation function to investigate the cell dynamics
in detail, we found a compressed exponential decay as described by the
Kohlrausch–William–Watts function of the form C(δx)t ∼ exp (−(x/x0(t))β(t)),
with 1.5 6 β(t) 6 1.8. This clearly shows that although migrating cells are an
active, non-equilibrium system, the cell monolayer behaves in a glass-like way,
which requires jamming as a part of intercellular interactions. Since it is the
dynamics which determine the integrity of the cell sheet and its front for weakly
interacting cells, it becomes evident why changes of the migratory behavior
during epithelial to mesenchymal transition can result in the escape of single
cells and metastasis.