Abstract
The endogenous electric field (EF) may provide an important signal for directional cell migration during wound healing, embryonic development and cancer metastasis but the mechanism of cell electrotaxis is poorly understood. Additionally, there is no research addressing the question on the difference in electrotactic motility of cells representing various strategies of cell movement—specifically blebbing vs. lamellipodial migration. In the current study we constructed a unique experimental model which allowed for the investigation of electrotactic movement of cells of the same origin but representing different modes of cell migration: weakly adherent, spontaneously blebbing (BC) and lamellipodia forming (LC) WC256 cells. We report that both BC and LC sublines show robust cathodal migration in a physiological EF (1–3 V/cm). The directionality of cell movement was completely reversible upon reversing the field polarity. However, the full reversal of cell direction after the change of EF polarity was much faster in the case of BC (10 minutes) than LC cells (30 minutes). We also investigated the distinct requirements for Rac, Cdc42 and Rho pathways and intracellular Ca2+ in electrotaxis of WC256 sublines forming different types of cell protrusions. It was found that Rac1 is required for directional movement of LC to a much greater extent than for BC, but Cdc42 and RhoA are more crucial for BC than for LC cells. The inhibition of ROCK did not affect electrotaxis of LC in contrast to BC cells. The results also showed that intracellular Ca2+ is essential only for the electrotactic reaction of BC cells. Moreover, inhibition of MLCK and myosin II did not affect the electrotaxis of LC in contrast to BC cells. In conclusion, our results revealed that both lamellipodia and membrane blebs can efficiently drive electrotactic migration of WC 256 carcinosarcoma cells, however directional migration is mediated by different signalling pathways.
Highlights
Cell migration is a highly integrated multistep process that plays a critical role in a variety of normal physiological events and in many diseases
In the present study we developed a unique experimental model which allowed for the investigation of electrotactic movement of cells of the same origin but representing different modes of cell migration: weakly adherent, spontaneously blebbing (BC) and lamellipodia forming (LC) WC256 cells
We demonstrated a significant difference in the requirements of blebbing WC256 cells (BC) and lamellipodia forming WC256 cells (LC) cells for an efficient electrotactic reaction
Summary
Cell migration is a highly integrated multistep process that plays a critical role in a variety of normal physiological events and in many diseases. Mesenchymal cell migration is described as the movement of polarized fibroblast-like cells, reliant on protease-dependent degradation of the ECM, formation of lamellipodia and strong, integrin-dependent contacts [1, 2]. The mechanism of regulation of blebbing cells’ directional movement is unclear, it was observed that bleb location appears to be controlled directly by chemotactic gradients [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. This suggests that the same chemotactic factors may induce formation of different types of cell protrusions to prompt directional movement. Directional cell migration is induced by chemoattractants and by physical cues like substrate anisotropy (contact guidance) and electric fields (electrotaxis) [11, 12, 13, 14]
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