A Much Deeper Understanding of How Cells Move and Stick Together

Observing how cells adhere to surfaces and their motility is vitally essential in studying tissue maintenance, injury healing, and even understanding exactly how cancer progresses. A brand-new paper published in The European Physical Journal Plus by Raj Kumar Sadhu, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, steps towards a deeper understanding of these processes.

“Cell adhesion is the capability of a cell to adhere to another cell or an extracellular matrix. This process is important to comprehend how cells communicate and coordinate their behavior in multicellular microorganisms,” says Sadhu. “We theoretically design the adhesion of a cell-like vesicle by defining the cell as a three-dimensional vesicle sticking on a flat substrate with a consistent adhesion interaction.”

With his co-authors, Sadhu set about investigating the purpose of membrane-bound curvature sensitive proteins and the forces that act upon the cytoskeleton – the network of interconnected protein filaments in the cytoplasm of cells – throughout the adhesion process. The team found that curved proteins boost the adhesion process substantially, specifically when combined with active cytoskeleton forces.

“Our work reveals that the curved membrane proteins, combined with the pushing force because of the cytoskeleton, can play a key part in the cell adhesion process,” adds Sadhu. “Furthermore, we revealed that these very few ingredients suffice to generate a motile shape that very closely resembles migrating cells. Our present work will inspire more studies in this direction.”

One facet of the research study that gladly surprised the team was that the relatively simple model they developed could explain cell adhesion and allow them to record cell movement. The resultant paper belongs to the Topical Collection “Focus Factor on Mechanobiology across Scales,” edited by M. Ben Amar, A. Boudaoud, and M. Lenz.

“Physical principles of shape, curvature and forces combine to offer living cells their forms,” concludes Sadhu. “We display that the cells can have a diversity of dynamic shapes, which spontaneously arise because of physical principles, and manage the function of the cells in our bodies.”

The group will undoubtedly seek to improve this current research study by examining the adhesion of cells on even more complicated surfaces. Including curved surfaces with adhesion gradients and others upon which adhesive elements are temporary.

Originally published on Sciencedaily.com. Read the original article.

Reference: Raj Kumar Sadhu et al, Modelling cellular spreading and emergence of motility in the presence of curved membrane proteins and active cytoskeleton forces, The European Physical Journal Plus (2021). DOI: 10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01433-9