Cell Motion Alignment as Polarity Memory Effect

Abstract

The clarification of the motion alignment mechanism in collective cell migration is an important issue commonly in physics and biology. In analogy with the self-propelled disk, the polarity memory effect of eukaryotic cell is a fundamental candidate for this alignment mechanism. In the present paper, we theoretically examine the polarity memory effect for the motion alignment of cells on the basis of the cellular Potts model. We show that the polarity memory effect can align motion of cells. We also find that the polarity memory effect emerges for the persistent length of cell trajectories longer than average cell-cell distance.