Abstract
We perform a detailed analysis of the migratory motion of human embryonic stem cells in two-dimensions, both when isolated and in close proximity to another cell, recorded with time-lapse microscopic imaging. We show that isolated cells tend to perform an unusual locally anisotropic walk, moving backwards and forwards along a preferred local direction correlated over a timescale of around 50 min and aligned with the axis of the cell elongation. Increasing elongation of the cell shape is associated with increased instantaneous migration speed. We also show that two cells in close proximity tend to move in the same direction, with the average separation of m or less and the correlation length of around 25 μm, a typical cell diameter. These results can be used as a basis for the mathematical modelling of the formation of clonal hESC colonies.
Highlights
There are many different types of active and spontaneous cell motion, e.g. swimming, gliding, crawling and swarming, detected in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells [1, 2]
HESCs are anchorage-dependent: they adhere to the surface and sense external cues by extending lamellipodia and filopodia, referred to in a general way as pseudopodia
Observations of single cell movement in two-dimensions cultures, in the absence of external cues, indicate a production of pseudopodia structures in random directions, a behaviour observed in other cell types [41]
Summary
There are many different types of active and spontaneous cell motion, e.g. swimming, gliding, crawling and swarming, detected in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells [1, 2]. Unconstrained cell migration on a plane in vitro can often be described as a two-dimensional random walk [12]. Correlated random walks (CRWs) involve a directional bias; there is a preference for the direction of the step to be related to that in the previous step. It is common for cells in the absence of external biases to migrate as CRWs: the migration of amoeboids [13], mammary epithelial cells [14] and mouse fibroblasts [15] have all been modelled as CRWs
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