Modeling a Cell Motility on the Surface with a Pit

Authors

  • Arkady Voloshin Department of Mechanical Engineering and Me chanics and Bioengineering Program, Lehigh University

Keywords:

Cell motion, Strain energy, Tensegrity, Modelling, Surface topology

Abstract

Living cells respond to outside physical environment in many ways including changing their geometry and location. A cell was modeled as a tensegrity structure that consists of the cytoskeleton, the cellular nucleus and lamellipodia. This model was based on the use of isolated elastic components consisting of a set of continuous compression components and a set of continuous tension components. To investigate the influence of surface topography on cellular movement, several representative cases were designed and simulated. By using internal strain energy as a main criterion to estimate the stability of the cell at various locations, we could show that cells have a tendency to move towards and stay on the sidewall of a pit. They also have a tendency to leave the concave corner. The obtained simulation results were in agreement with the available experimental evidence. Thus, the proposed model and approach may be a valuable tool for understanding the mechanics of a cell motion.

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Published

2016-11-03

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2016)

Section

Articles

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