Modeling of Cell Migration Assays Including Electrotaxis
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Date
2014-05
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
Cell motility is important in embryonic development, wound-healing, and the metastasis of cancer. There are different stimuli that guide cell motility in biological tissue. One of these stimuli is electrical in nature (the others being chemical and mechanical), and the mobility of cells under the presence of electric fields is called electrotaxis. It is well known that potential differences on the order of 20mV to 50mV exist across epithelial tissue. It is also known that when epithelial tissue is compromised resulting in a wound, a short circuit is created across the basement membrane. This endogenous electric field drives a flow of electrical current and cells towards the more negative site of the wound, driving closure. If bioelectricity plays an important role in moving cells in specific directions, then increasing the strength of the electric field and varying its direction in vivo can either accelerate or decelerate cell movement as desired. Bioelectricity therefore offers the possibility of controlling and potentially accelerating wound-healing or retarding the metastasis of cancer. Conventional methods of studying and inducing electrotaxis have involved the use of metal electrodes placed in contact with the tissue or medium containing cells using agar salt bridges. This approach raises the possibility of contamination as well as unwanted effects of Ohmic heating. In this research, electric fields are induced in vitro in a non-contact manner, thereby eliminating any interfering electrochemical interactions or unwanted heating arising from flow of direct current through the culture medium. The goal of this research is to quantify and simulate cell movement in a standard wound-healing assay using numerical methods to solve the relevant two-dimensional transient governing equations. Preliminary results have been obtained from non-contact electrotaxis experiments, and a time-varying 2-D model has been developed that simulates and can eventually predict the migration of cells in response to an electrical stimulus. This model can be useful for further studies delving into mechanisms driving electrotaxis. Moreover, this work may lead to development of non-invasive means of treating patients with chronic wounds or burns or halting metastasis.
Description
Undergraduate Research Scholarship
Keywords
modeling, electrotaxis, cell migration, wound healing, cell motility, metastasis