Cell migration: from tissue culture to embryos

Abstract

Cell migration is a fundamental process that occurs during embryo development. Classic studies using in vitro culture systems have been instrumental in dissecting the principles of cell motility and highlighting how cells make use of topographical features of the substrate, cell-cell contacts, and chemical and physical environmental signals to direct their locomotion. Here, we review the guidance principles of in vitro cell locomotion and examine how they control directed cell migration in vivo during development. We focus on developmental examples in which individual guidance mechanisms have been clearly dissected, and for which the interactions among guidance cues have been explored. We also discuss how the migratory behaviours elicited by guidance mechanisms generate the stereotypical patterns of migration that shape tissues in the developing embryo.

Mouse Macrophages Completely Lacking Rho Subfamily GTPases (RhoA, RhoB, and RhoC) Have Severe Lamellipodial Retraction Defects, but Robust Chemotactic Navigation and Altered Motility

“…After centrifugation (300 ϫ g for 11 min) at room temperature, the supernatant was removed, and 1 ml of lysis buffer (155 mM NH 4 Cl, 10 mM KHCO 3 , and 0.1 mM EDTA; pH 7.4) was added for 5 min. The suspension was centrifuged at 300 ϫ g for 10 min, and the supernatant was discarded.…”

“…Like most cells, neutrophils and macrophages move on a two-dimensional surface by generating thin membrane protrusions at the front, followed by pulling forward of the cell body and retraction of the back end (1,2), along the lines of the motility model first delineated by Abercrombie et al (3) in the early 1970s (reviewed in Ref. 4). Cells may produce more than one protrusion, but ultimately, the dominant membrane protrusion determines the direction of movement (5).…”

Contact guidance requires spatial control of leading-edge protrusion

“…During this process, termed contact guidance, the geometry of the ECM enforces changes to cell morphology and migration direction (Petrie et al ., 2009; Reig et al ., 2014). Classical studies in vivo and in vitro have shown that cells interacting with fibrillar ECM networks exhibit contact guidance (Weiss and Garber, 1952; Dunn and Heath, 1976; Dunn and Ebendal, 1978).…”

Anisotropic forces from spatially constrained focal adhesions mediate contact guidance directed cell migration

“…Contact guidance where cells utilize anisotropy, often in the form of aligned ECM fibres to orient and migrate along single or multiple fibres is indeed a strong regulator of directed migration that is implicated in numerous developmental, physiologic, and pathophysiologic processes111213. In fact, it is a strong regulator of carcinoma progression14151617.…”