Cell biology of embryonic migration

Abstract

Cell migration is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that underlies the development and functioning of uni-and multicellular organisms and takes place in normal and pathogenic processes, including various events of embryogenesis, wound healing, immune response, cancer metastases, and angiogenesis. Despite the differences in the cell types that take part in different migratory events, it is believed that all of these migrations occur by similar molecular mechanisms, whose major components have been functionally conserved in evolution and whose perturbation leads to severe developmental defects. These mechanisms involve intricate cytoskeleton-based molecular machines that can sense the environment, respond to signals, and modulate the entire cell behavior. A big question that has concerned the researchers for decades relates to the coordination of cell migration in situ and its relation to the intracellular aspects of the cell migratory mechanisms. Traditionally, this question has been addressed by researchers that considered the intra-and extracellular mechanisms driving migration in separate sets of studies. As more data accumulate researchers are now able to integrate all of the available information and consider the intracellular mechanisms of cell migration in the context of the developing organisms that contain additional levels of complexity provided by extracellular regulation. This review provides a broad summary of the existing and emerging data in the cell and developmental biology fields regarding cell migration during development.

[Gd@C82(OH)22]n nanoparticles inhibit the migration and adhesion of glioblastoma cells

“…Directed cell migration and polarity are crucial in various biological processes, including wound healing and immune responses, as well as in pathological phenomena, such as tumor invasion and metastasis (9)(10)(11)(12). In the present study, the chemotaxis and scratch assays showed that the [Gd@ C 82 (OH) 22 ] n nanoparticle-treated LN-229 cells exhibited a significantly decreased migration ability.…”

Spatial moment dynamics for collective cell movement incorporating a neighbour-dependent directional bias

“…The first spatial moment is required for Z 3 (x, y, z) and in the homogeneous case Z 1 is a constant. We rewrite (3.21) in terms of the displacements between pairs as follows dZ 2 …”

“…The ability of cells to migrate as a collective, either to local sites or distant parts of the body, is fundamental for tissue repair [1], development [2] and the immune response [3]. Pathologies such as cancer can arise when the regulatory mechanisms controlling movement are disrupted [4].…”

Microtubules in 3D cell motility

“…Both single cell and collective migration during development are spectacular examples of physiological cell motility in 3D (Aman and Piotrowski, 2010;Keller, 2005;Kurosaka and Kashina, 2008). Microtubule organization has been the subject of early electron microscopy studies in migrating myogenic cells (Jacob et al, 1978), epiblasts that acquire invasive properties due to epithelialmesenchymal transition (EMT) during gastrulation (Granholm and Baker, 1970) and cardiac cushion cells grown in collagen gels (Bernanke and Markwald, 1982).…”