Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2011 Aug 12;411(4):695-701. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2011.07.004. Epub 2011 Jul 12.
Directed cell migration in tissues mediates various physiological processes and is guided by complex cellular factors such as chemoattractant gradients and electric fields. Direct current (DC) electric fields can be generated in physiological settings and the electric field guided migration of various cell types (i.e., electrotaxis) has been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. Although several mechanisms have been proposed for electrotaxis, there are so far very few quantitative models. Furthermore, because chemoattractant gradients and electric fields co-exist in tissues, it is important to understand how chemotaxis and electrotaxis interact for mediating cell migration and trafficking. In this study, we developed a mathematical model to investigate the role of electromigration of cell surface chemoattractant receptors in mediating electrochemical sensing and migration of cells. Our results show that electromigration of chemoattractant receptors enables cell electrotactic sensing and migration in the presence of a uniform chemoattractant field. Furthermore, in the physiologically-relevant range of receptor electromigration rates, application of electric fields overcomes chemical guiding signals for directional sensing and migration of cells in co-existing competing electric fields and chemoattractant gradients.
细胞在组织中的定向迁移介导了各种生理过程，并且受到趋化因子梯度和电场等复杂细胞因子的引导。在生理环境中可以产生直流（DC）电场，并且已经在体外和体内证明了各种细胞类型（即电趋性）的电场引导迁移。尽管已经提出了几种电趋性的机制，但到目前为止，定量模型非常少。此外，由于趋化因子梯度和电场在组织中共存，因此了解趋化性和电趋性如何相互作用以介导细胞迁移和运输非常重要。在这项研究中，我们开发了一个数学模型来研究细胞表面趋化因子受体的电迁移在电化学感应和细胞迁移中的作用。我们的结果表明，趋化因子受体的电迁移使细胞在存在均匀趋化因子场的情况下进行电趋性感应和迁移。此外，在受体电迁移率的生理相关范围内，电场的施加克服了化学导向信号，从而使细胞在共存的竞争电场和趋化因子梯度中进行定向感应和迁移。
