Open Access

ARTICLE

Computational Study of Collective Cell Migration By Meshfree Method

Jie Bai^1,#, Liqiang Lin^1,#, Xiaowei Zeng ^1,*

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA.
# These two authors contributed equally to this work.

* Corresponding Author: Xiaowei Zeng. Email: .

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2019, 121(3), 787-800. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2019.07159

Abstract

The collective cell migration behavior on a substrate was studied using RKPM meshfree method. The cells were modeled as nematic liquid crystal with hyperelastic cell nucleus. The cell-substrate and cell-cell interactions were modeled by coarse-grained potential forces. Through this study, the pulling and pushing phenomenon during collective cell migration process was observed and it was found that the individual cell mobility significantly influenced the collective cell migratory behavior. More self-propelled cells are in the system along the same direction, the faster the collective group migrates toward coordinated direction. The parametric study on cell-cell adhesion strength indicated that as the adhesion strength increases, the collective cell migration speed increases. It also showed that the mechanical stress in leader cell is higher than stress in follower cells.

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Keywords

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