A wave of stress facilitates cell migration
Nature Physics
2012년7월9일
The massive cellular migration that occurs in our bodies during early development works on the same principle as the healing of wounds in adulthood: cells move in large monolayer sheets, responding to chemical cues that guide migration. A paper published online this week in Nature Physics suggests that there is an additional feedback mechanism at work in cell migration, beyond chemical-gradient sensing, involving physical forces.
Cells, as they move, apply traction forces to their surroundings, and transmit forces to one another via intercellular junctions. In doing so, they build up gradients of tension across the group, which then migrates in the direction of maximum stress. Xavier Trepat, Jeffrey Fredberg and colleagues now report that these stress gradients are established via a slow mechanical wave that propagates through the cell population from the leading edge of migration.
Their observation challenges the long-held assumption that viscous stress dominates elastic stress on the timescales of migration. The reinforced patterns of stress and strain that emerge in the study provide direct evidence of a physical process enabling cell migration, which may play a role in wound healing, morphogenesis and the early stages of metastasis.
doi: 10.1038/nphys2355
리서치 하이라이트
-
7월29일
Engineering: Just add water to activate a disposable paper batteryScientific Reports
-
7월26일
Physics: Slab avalanche origin similar to that of earthquakesNature Physics
-
7월13일
Planetary science: Origins of one of the oldest martian meteorites identifiedNature Communications
-
7월12일
Astronomy: Casualty risk from uncontrolled rocket re-entries assessedNature Astronomy
-
7월12일
Physics: Beam vibrations used to measure ‘big G’Nature Physics
-
7월6일
Biotechnology: Mice cloned from freeze-dried somatic cellsNature Communications