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Cell migration

Towards the void

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 783–784 (2013)Cite this article

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Cells at the edges of migrating epithelial sheets pull themselves towards unfilled space regardless of their direction of motion.

Wound healing, gastrulation and migration of carcinomas all involve coherent movements by large groups of interconnected cells1. Although in vitro studies of migrating single cells have clarified many of the critical regulatory mechanisms that govern individual cell migration, we know much less about how ensembles of cells coordinate their movements. The current view is that soluble molecules, signals from adhesion receptors (such as integrins and cadherins) and mechanical stresses all mediate cell–cell communication in these systems2. The challenges are to identify the specific cell-autonomous regulatory mechanisms and to explain how they lead to emergent behaviour in collective migration. In this regard, Jeffrey Fredberg and colleagues report in Nature Materials an analysis of the collective motion of a migrating epithelial sheet past an area where the cells could not adhere. They found a surprising disconnect between the motion of the cells located near the non-adhesive area and the forces they exerted3.

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Figure 1: Colour maps of traction forces exerted on an underlying elastic substrate by a migrating cell sheet approaching and surrounding a non-adhesive island (values are averages of six identical cell sheets)3.
Figure 2: Heterogeneity in cell shape within a migrating cell sheet downstream of a non-adhesive island3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eric R. Dufresne is at the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Applied Physics, Physics, and Cell Biology, Yale University, 9 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA,

    Eric R. Dufresne

  2. Departments of Internal Medicine and Cell Biology, Martin A. Schwartz is at the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center, Yale School of Medicine, 300 George Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA,

    Martin A. Schwartz

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  1. Eric R. Dufresne
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  2. Martin A. Schwartz
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Correspondence to Eric R. Dufresne or Martin A. Schwartz.

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Dufresne, E., Schwartz, M. Towards the void. Nature Mater 12, 783–784 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3743

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