Multiphase field models for collective cell migration

TL;DR

This paper develops and compares multiphase field models to simulate collective cell migration, emphasizing the impact of microscopic details on emergent tissue behaviors and aligning results with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces four different multiphase field models with varying active force mechanisms to better understand collective cell migration phenomena.

Findings

Models reproduce phase transitions and cell shape variability.

Active force mechanisms influence flow patterns and correlations.

Microscopic details are crucial for accurate simulations.

Abstract

Confluent cell monolayers and epithelia tissues show remarkable patterns and correlations in structural arrangements and actively-driven collective flows. We simulate these properties using multiphase field models. The models are based on cell deformations and cell-cell interactions and we investigate the influence of microscopic details to incorporate active forces on emerging phenomena. We compare four different approaches, one in which the activity is determined by a random orientation, one where the activity is related to the deformation of the cells and two models with subcellular details to resolve the mechanochemical interactions underlying cell migration. The models are compared with respect to generic features, such as solid-to-liquid phase transitions, cell shape variability, emerging nematic properties, as well as vorticity correlations and flow patterns in large confluent monolayers and confinements. All results are compared with experimental data for a large variety of cell cultures. The appearing qualitative differences of the models show the importance of microscopic details and provide a route towards predictive simulations of patterns and correlations in cell colonies.