A mechanical model to investigate the role of the nucleus during confined cell migration

Rachele Allena (1) , H. Thiam (2) , M. Piel (2) , Denis Aubry (3)

1 LBM - Laboratoire de biomécanique
2 Laboratoire Biologie systémique de la division et de la polarité cellulaire
3 MSSMat - Laboratoire de mécanique des sols, structures et matériaux

Cell migration in confinement plays a fundamental role in biological processes such as embryogenesis, immune response and tumorogenesis. Specifically, tumor cells continuously adapt their migratory behaviour to their environment. Therefore, it has become timely and essential for diagnostic purposes to quantitatively evaluate the cell deformability in confinement. Here, we propose a two-dimensional mechanical model to simulate the migration of a HeLa cell through a micro- channel. We will evaluate both the invasiveness of the cell and the mechanical forces exerted by the cell according to the surrounding microstructure.

Mots clés: nucleus; continuum mechanics; computational mechanics; Confined cell migration

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Rachele Allena, H. Thiam, M. Piel, Denis Aubry. A mechanical model to investigate the role of the nucleus during confined cell migration. Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 2015, 18, pp.1868-1869. ⟨10.1080/10255842.2015.1070576⟩. ⟨hal-01338317⟩