Mechanical stresses in cellular collective migration

Abstract

Dynamics of collective cell clusters play a critical role in numerous physiological and pathological processes such as wound healing, development, or cancer invasion. In most of epithelial tissues and skin, cells are surrounded by extracellular matrix (ECM) and by neighboring cells. Each cell in a collective cluster interacts actively with the surrounding ECM and neighboring cells to exhibit a unique cooperative nature, rather than merely a single migrating unit. In particular, the cooperativity within the collective cell cluster is regulated by the generation, reaction, transmission, and propagation capabilities of physical forces that occur between cell-matrix and cell-to-cell mechanical adhesions. Therefore, it is essential to study the physical forces that occur in the cell-surroundings mechanical coupling to understand the collective cell dynamics. In this study, we aimed to establish the simplistic 2D or 3D collective cell cluster in vitro, visualize the physical forces within the collective models, specify the mechanical characteristics of cell-ECM or cell-cell adhesions, and consequently understand the correlation between physical forces and collective cell dynamics. Collective cellular migration plays a critical role in numerous pathophysiological processes such as wound healing, development, or cancer invasion. In most epithelial tissues, including skin, individual cells are in intimate contact with surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM) or neighboring cells, interacting actively to exhibit a unique cooperative nature in their migration patterns. In particular, the cooperativity within the collective cell cluster is regulated by generation, reaction, transmission, and propagation of mechanical forces that occur at both cell-matrix and cell-to-cell adhesion junctions. Therefore, it would be essential to study the mechanical forces at these junctions to understand the dynamics of the collective cells. In this study, we aim to establish the simplistic 2D or 3D collective cell cluster in vitro and visualize the mechanical stresses within the collective models, ultimately to unravel the correlation between the underlying mechanical stresses at the interfaces of individual cells and the overall collective motions of the cells as a cluster.