The Behavior of Monolayer Zajdela Hepatoma Cells in an Experimental Wound Space

Abstract

Long-term cultivated mammalian cell lines, as a rule, have either an epithelial- or fibroblast-like morphology. The monolayer cell line that we obtained from rat ascites Zajdela hepatoma contains cells of both types, genetically related but phenotypically different. We compared the behaviors of these cells during their migration into the free space of an experimental “wound” under the same cultivation conditions. We measured the following parameters: the dynamics of the cell number in this space, area of cell projection on the substrate, coefficient of cell spreading, rate of cell migration, and proposed parameter W reflecting the cell efficacy in the wound closure. We found that, initially (at the first stage, within 9–10 h), wound closure was due to the cell migration and increased area of cell projection on the substrate. At the second stage, the cell division contributed to a further increase in cell number within the wound. In terms of parameter W, epithelial-like cells moved less chaotically and filled the wound approximately 1.5 times more efficiently than fibroblast-like cells, the motion of which was alike to Brownian. Meanwhile, the average migration rate of epithelial-like cells was about half that of fibroblast-like cells. In the area of the wound that had just closed, the sizes of cells were larger than those of their counterparts outside the wound. We suggest that the increase in cell size was transitory and resulted from changes in the cell functional state during migration to the wound.