Tissue Geometry Regulates Collective Cell Motility

Abstract

Collective cell migration plays an important role in embryonic development, wound repair and cancer invasion. Certain cell types have an intrinsic ability to organize themselves and move collectively when they are confined within monolayers. Here, we explored the role of tissue geometry on the collective motility of epithelial cells. In particular, we used microlithography and timelapse imaging to ask whether tissue geometry affects multicellular polarity and supracellular organization that are necessary for collective cell motion. We found that epithelial cells within monolayers tended to rotate as a group, and that increasing the size of the tissue increased the collectiveness of group rotation. The shape and boundary conditions of the tissue organized the motion of the cells by altering group rotation and coherence. The motility parameters of individual cells, including speed and persistence, were also affected by tissue geometry. Our results suggest that the overall architecture of the tissue in which cells reside instructs their movements with respect to each other within a collective. Accurate recapitulation of in vivo tissue structure will benefit future studies of processes which involve collective cell migration.