Influence of Mechanical Environmental Factors on Cell Migration Phenomenon

Abstract

Current research in cell biology, including cell motility, proliferation or cancer research, are based on different cell types cultured on glass or plastic substrate. However, despite of its many advantages, such as ease of use or widespread application, this model system does not account for different tissues stiffness. Several recent studies showed that cells, cultured on substrates with a different elastic modulus, behave differently in many processes, among which is cell migration, division, metastasis or response to chemical or mechanical stimuli. This phenomenon is connected to different regulatory pathways, and therefore to different protein expression, distribution and activation. In our research, we are mimicking stiffness of body tissues using polyacrylamide hydrogels. Our results show that cells behave differently depending on substrate elastic modulus. Both, cells morphology and physiology are affected by the change of substrate stiffness. These changes are correlated with variance in cytoskeletal proteins distribution and migration-related protein (such as Rho family proteins) activation patterns in cells. Our work is concentrated on these aspects and their connections to cells behavior. We employ advanced optical microscopy methods such as confocal and bright field and fluorescence microscopy to dissect the cellular regulatory mechanisms which are responsible for observed changes in cell morphology and migration. This work is supported by a grant from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 7150/E-338/M/2017.