Dense active matter model of motion patterns in confluent cell monolayers.
- Resource Type
- Academic Journal
- Authors
- Henkes S; School of Mathematics, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TW, United Kingdom. silke.henkes@bristol.ac.uk.; Institute of Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE, United Kingdom. silke.henkes@bristol.ac.uk.; Kostanjevec K; School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom.; Collinson JM; School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom.; Sknepnek R; School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, United Kingdom. r.sknepnek@dundee.ac.uk.; School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, United Kingdom. r.sknepnek@dundee.ac.uk.; Bertin E; Université Grenoble Alpes and CNRS, LIPHY, F-38000, Grenoble, France. eric.bertin@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr.
- Source
- Publisher: Nature Pub. Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101528555 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2041-1723 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20411723 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nat Commun Subsets: MEDLINE
- Subject
- Language
- English
Epithelial cell monolayers show remarkable displacement and velocity correlations over distances of ten or more cell sizes that are reminiscent of supercooled liquids and active nematics. We show that many observed features can be described within the framework of dense active matter, and argue that persistent uncoordinated cell motility coupled to the collective elastic modes of the cell sheet is sufficient to produce swirl-like correlations. We obtain this result using both continuum active linear elasticity and a normal modes formalism, and validate analytical predictions with numerical simulations of two agent-based cell models, soft elastic particles and the self-propelled Voronoi model together with in-vitro experiments of confluent corneal epithelial cell sheets. Simulations and normal mode analysis perfectly match when tissue-level reorganisation occurs on times longer than the persistence time of cell motility. Our analytical model quantitatively matches measured velocity correlation functions over more than a decade with a single fitting parameter.