Cellular Contact Guidance Emerges from Gap Avoidance

Cell Reports. Physical Science
Antonetta B C BuskermolenCarlijn V C Bouten

Abstract

In the presence of anisotropic biochemical or topographical patterns, cells tend to align in the direction of these cues-a widely reported phenomenon known as "contact guidance." To investigate the origins of contact guidance, here, we created substrates micropatterned with parallel lines of fibronectin with dimensions spanning multiple orders of magnitude. Quantitative morphometric analysis of our experimental data reveals two regimes of contact guidance governed by the length scale of the cues that cannot be explained by enforced alignment of focal adhesions. Adopting computational simulations of cell remodeling on inhomogeneous substrates based on a statistical mechanics framework for living cells, we show that contact guidance emerges from anisotropic cell shape fluctuation and "gap avoidance," i.e., the energetic penalty of cell adhesions on non-adhesive gaps. Our findings therefore point to general biophysical mechanisms underlying cellular contact guidance, without the necessity of invoking specific molecular pathways.

Citations

Jan 12, 2021·Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology·Mirko D'Urso, Nicholas A Kurniawan
Dec 18, 2020·Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology·Qing Zhang
Apr 13, 2021·Cytoskeleton·Claire Leclech, Abdul I Barakat
May 26, 2021·ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces·Cas van der PuttenNicholas A Kurniawan
May 19, 2021·Cellular Signalling·Yasaswi Gayatri Mishra, Bramanandam Manavathi
Jun 30, 2021·Current Opinion in Cell Biology·Arja Ray, Paolo P Provenzano
Oct 7, 2021·Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology·Cansu KarakayaSandra Loerakker

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Software Mentioned

MATLAB
Mathematica

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Adhesion Molecules in Health and Disease

Cell adhesion molecules are a subset of cell adhesion proteins located on the cell surface involved in binding with other cells or with the extracellular matrix in the process called cell adhesion. In essence, cell adhesion molecules help cells stick to each other and to their surroundings. Cell adhesion is a crucial component in maintaining tissue structure and function. Discover the latest research on adhesion molecule and their role in health and disease here.

Related Papers

BioRxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
Gitta BuskermolenVikram Deshpande
Biophysical Journal
Antonetta B C BuskermolenVikram S Deshpande
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Claire Leclech, Catherine Villard
© 2021 Meta ULC. All rights reserved