A Formalism for Modelling Traction forces and Cell Shape Evolution during Cell Migration in Various Biomedical Processes

TL;DR

This paper extends a cell migration model by incorporating traction forces and cell shape evolution, using morphoelasticity and finite element methods to simulate biological scenarios like cancer cell transmigration.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive formalism combining traction forces, cell shape changes, and extracellular matrix deformation into existing models.

Findings

Successfully reproduces experimental observations of cancer cell transmigration.

Demonstrates the model's capability to simulate various biological migration scenarios.

Provides a computational framework for studying cell shape and migration dynamics.

Abstract

The phenomenological model for cell shape deformation and cell migration (Chen et.al. 2018; Vermolen and Gefen 2012) is extended with the incorporation of cell traction forces and the evolution of cell equilibrium shapes as a result of cell differentiation. Plastic deformations of the extracellular matrix are modelled using morphoelasticity theory. The resulting partial differential differential equations are solved by the use of the finite element method. The paper treats various biological scenarios that entail cell migration and cell shape evolution. The experimental observations in Mak et.al. (2013), where transmigration of cancer cells through narrow apertures is studied, are reproduced using a Monte Carlo framework.