A Numerical Study of Collective Cell Migration in a Microchannel Driven by Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Device

Abstract

Collective cell migration is involved in a variety of biological contexts, including tissue morphogenesis, wound healing, and cancer invasion. Many studies have revealed that chemical, mechanical, and electrical stimulation all affect cell migration. Although an acoustic stimulus has been shown to influence cell migration in the past, the underlying mechanism is still unknown. A computational model that accounts for acoustic–structure interaction was constructed in this study to simulate the formation of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) field and the application of the acoustic pressure field on collective cell migration. A group of cells within a microchannel device and two ports of interdigitated transducers (IDTs) with different wavelengths were modeled. The stresses within cells were investigated as it was influenced by substrate displacement and pressure acoustic in the cell media generated by the SAW device. As a result, we observed the local stress within cells near the solid-fluid interfaces. For propagating SAW, the shorter wavelength of IDTs (600 μm) attributed to high stress at the cell’s top and bottom as compared to the SAW device with the longer wavelength (1000 μm). The standing SAW occurred underneath collective cells. The results of standing SAW on cell stress at the bottom confirm that the SAW device can be useful to regulate the abnormalities cellular activities associated with cell migration.