Yao Lingxing, Li Yizeng
Department of Mathematics, University of Akron, Akron, OH, United States.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kennesaw State University, Marietta, GA, United States.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022 May 19;10:903234. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.903234. eCollection 2022.
We have developed much understanding of actin-driven cell migration and the forces that propel cell motility. However, fewer studies focused on estimating the effective forces generated by migrating cells. Since cells are exposed to complex physical environments with various barriers, understanding the forces generated by cells will provide insights into how cells manage to navigate challenging environments. In this work, we use theoretical models to discuss actin-driven and water-driven cell migration and the effect of cell shapes on force generation. The results show that the effective force generated by actin-driven cell migration is proportional to the rate of actin polymerization and the strength of focal adhesion; the energy source comes from the actin polymerization against the actin network pressure. The effective force generated by water-driven cell migration is proportional to the rate of active solute flux and the coefficient of external hydraulic resistance; the energy sources come from active solute pumping against the solute concentration gradient. The model further predicts that the actin network distribution is mechanosensitive and the presence of globular actin helps to establish a biphasic cell velocity in the strength of focal adhesion. The cell velocity and effective force generation also depend on the cell shape through the intracellular actin flow field.
我们对肌动蛋白驱动的细胞迁移以及推动细胞运动的力已经有了很多了解。然而，较少有研究专注于估算迁移细胞产生的有效力。由于细胞暴露于具有各种屏障的复杂物理环境中，了解细胞产生的力将有助于深入了解细胞如何在具有挑战性的环境中导航。在这项工作中，我们使用理论模型来讨论肌动蛋白驱动和水驱动的细胞迁移以及细胞形状对力产生的影响。结果表明，肌动蛋白驱动的细胞迁移产生的有效力与肌动蛋白聚合速率和粘着斑强度成正比；能量来源是肌动蛋白聚合对抗肌动蛋白网络压力。水驱动的细胞迁移产生的有效力与活性溶质通量速率和外部水力阻力系数成正比；能量来源是活性溶质逆溶质浓度梯度泵送。该模型进一步预测，肌动蛋白网络分布是机械敏感的，球状肌动蛋白的存在有助于在粘着斑强度方面建立双相细胞速度。细胞速度和有效力的产生也通过细胞内肌动蛋白流场取决于细胞形状。
