Advancing Edge Speeds of Epithelial Monolayers Depend on Their Initial Confining Geometry.

Collective cell migrations are essential in several physiological processes and are driven by both chemical and mechanical cues. The roles of substrate stiffness and confinement on collective migrations have been investigated in recent years, however few studies have addressed how geometric shapes i...

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Main Authors: Somanna A Kollimada, Ankur H Kulkarni, Aniket Ravan, Namrata Gundiah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4831833?pdf=render
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author Somanna A Kollimada
Ankur H Kulkarni
Aniket Ravan
Namrata Gundiah
author_facet Somanna A Kollimada
Ankur H Kulkarni
Aniket Ravan
Namrata Gundiah
author_sort Somanna A Kollimada
collection DOAJ
description Collective cell migrations are essential in several physiological processes and are driven by both chemical and mechanical cues. The roles of substrate stiffness and confinement on collective migrations have been investigated in recent years, however few studies have addressed how geometric shapes influence collective cell migrations. Here, we address the hypothesis that the relative position of a cell within the confinement influences its motility. Monolayers of two types of epithelial cells--MCF7, a breast epithelial cancer cell line, and MDCK, a control epithelial cell line--were confined within circular, square, and cross-shaped stencils and their migration velocities were quantified upon release of the constraint using particle image velocimetry. The choice of stencil geometry allowed us to investigate individual cell motility within convex, straight and concave boundaries. Cells located in sharp, convex boundaries migrated at slower rates than those in concave or straight edges in both cell types. The overall cluster migration occurred in three phases: an initial linear increase with time, followed by a plateau region and a subsequent decrease in cluster speeds. An acto-myosin contractile ring, present in the MDCK but absent in MCF7 monolayer, was a prominent feature in the emergence of leader cells from the MDCK clusters which occurred every ~125 μm from the vertex of the cross. Further, coordinated cell movements displayed vorticity patterns in MDCK which were absent in MCF7 clusters. We also used cytoskeletal inhibitors to show the importance of acto-myosin bounding cables in collective migrations through translation of local movements to create long range coordinated movements and the creation of leader cells within ensembles. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of how bounding shapes influence long-term migratory behaviours of epithelial cell monolayers. These results are important for tissue engineering and may also enhance our understanding of cell movements during developmental patterning and cancer metastasis.
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spelling doaj.art-b541303722b7432e987c3a73f6f5b4cd2022-12-22T00:19:50ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01114e015347110.1371/journal.pone.0153471Advancing Edge Speeds of Epithelial Monolayers Depend on Their Initial Confining Geometry.Somanna A KollimadaAnkur H KulkarniAniket RavanNamrata GundiahCollective cell migrations are essential in several physiological processes and are driven by both chemical and mechanical cues. The roles of substrate stiffness and confinement on collective migrations have been investigated in recent years, however few studies have addressed how geometric shapes influence collective cell migrations. Here, we address the hypothesis that the relative position of a cell within the confinement influences its motility. Monolayers of two types of epithelial cells--MCF7, a breast epithelial cancer cell line, and MDCK, a control epithelial cell line--were confined within circular, square, and cross-shaped stencils and their migration velocities were quantified upon release of the constraint using particle image velocimetry. The choice of stencil geometry allowed us to investigate individual cell motility within convex, straight and concave boundaries. Cells located in sharp, convex boundaries migrated at slower rates than those in concave or straight edges in both cell types. The overall cluster migration occurred in three phases: an initial linear increase with time, followed by a plateau region and a subsequent decrease in cluster speeds. An acto-myosin contractile ring, present in the MDCK but absent in MCF7 monolayer, was a prominent feature in the emergence of leader cells from the MDCK clusters which occurred every ~125 μm from the vertex of the cross. Further, coordinated cell movements displayed vorticity patterns in MDCK which were absent in MCF7 clusters. We also used cytoskeletal inhibitors to show the importance of acto-myosin bounding cables in collective migrations through translation of local movements to create long range coordinated movements and the creation of leader cells within ensembles. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of how bounding shapes influence long-term migratory behaviours of epithelial cell monolayers. These results are important for tissue engineering and may also enhance our understanding of cell movements during developmental patterning and cancer metastasis.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4831833?pdf=render
spellingShingle Somanna A Kollimada
Ankur H Kulkarni
Aniket Ravan
Namrata Gundiah
Advancing Edge Speeds of Epithelial Monolayers Depend on Their Initial Confining Geometry.
PLoS ONE
title Advancing Edge Speeds of Epithelial Monolayers Depend on Their Initial Confining Geometry.
title_full Advancing Edge Speeds of Epithelial Monolayers Depend on Their Initial Confining Geometry.
title_fullStr Advancing Edge Speeds of Epithelial Monolayers Depend on Their Initial Confining Geometry.
title_full_unstemmed Advancing Edge Speeds of Epithelial Monolayers Depend on Their Initial Confining Geometry.
title_short Advancing Edge Speeds of Epithelial Monolayers Depend on Their Initial Confining Geometry.
title_sort advancing edge speeds of epithelial monolayers depend on their initial confining geometry
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4831833?pdf=render
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AT ankurhkulkarni advancingedgespeedsofepithelialmonolayersdependontheirinitialconfininggeometry
AT aniketravan advancingedgespeedsofepithelialmonolayersdependontheirinitialconfininggeometry
AT namratagundiah advancingedgespeedsofepithelialmonolayersdependontheirinitialconfininggeometry