Cell crawling on a compliant substrate: A biphasic relation with linear friction. (March 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chelly, H.; Jahangiri, A.; Mireux, M.; Étienne, J.; Dysthe, D.K.; Verdier, C.; Recho, P.
• Is Part Of: International journal of non-linear mechanics. Volume 139(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Subjects: Cell motility -- Adhesion -- Biphasic relation -- Traction forces -- Actin retrograde flow -- Elastic substrate; Nonlinear mechanics -- Periodicals; Mécanique non linéaire -- Périodiques; Nonlinear mechanics; Periodicals; 531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnonlinmec.2021.103897
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-7462

Abstract

Abstract: A living cell actively generates traction forces on its environment with its actin cytoskeleton. These forces deform the cell elastic substrate which, in turn, affects the traction forces exerted by the cell and can consequently modify the cell dynamics. By considering a cell constrained to move along a one-dimensional thin track, we take advantage of the problem geometry to explicitly derive the effective law that describes the non-local frictional contact between the cell and the deformable substrate. We then couple such a law with one of the simplest model of the active flow within the cell cytoskeleton. This offers a paradigm that does not invoke any local non-linear friction law to explain that the relation between the cell steady state velocity and the substrate elasticity is non linear as experimentally observed. Additionally, we present an experimental platform to test our theoretical predictions. While our efforts are still not conclusive in this respect as more cell types need to be investigated, our analysis of the coupling between the substrate displacement and the actin flow leads to friction coefficient estimates that are in-line with some previously reported results. Highlights: Viscous friction couples an active gel, modeling the cell, and an elastic half-space. We solve the integro-differential problem arising for traveling wave solutions. Experiments verify the relation between actin velocity and substrate displacement. A biphasic dependence on friction of steady-state velocity arises from this coupling. This arises from nonlocal effects and without any nonlinear element in the model.