A mechanical model for guided motion of mammalian cells

Abstract

We introduce a generic, purely mechanical model for environment sensitive motion of mammalian cells that is applicable to chemotaxis, haptotaxis, and durotaxis as modes of motility. It is able to theoretically explain all relevant experimental observations, in particular, the high efficiency of motion, the behavior on inhomogeneous substrates, and the fixation of the lagging pole during motion. Furthermore, our model predicts that efficiency of motion in following a gradient depends on cell geometry (with more elongated cells being more efficient).