| Abstract | The movement of individual cells is vital in various biological processes including immune response, embryonic development, and the spread of cancer. Since both intracellular biochemistry and cell mechanics affect single cell motility, and therefore these biological processes, it is important to understand cell motility from both of these viewpoints. In this poster, we present a continuum model of the signal transduction pathway that affects the chemotaxis, (Bagorda et al., 2006), i.e. movement in respone to a chemical signal, of the cell type Dictyostelium discoidium (Dd), and we couple this model to a discrete model of cell mechanics. The governing equations for the intracellular biochemisty are solved using the finite element method, and the underlying triangular element mesh is used as framework for the series of nodes and springs that are used to calculate the displacments and force distribution within the cell. This continuous-discrete hybrid model provides a streamlined and effective computational tool that allows us to investigate the interplay between intracellular biochemistry and cell mechanics. While our preliminary simulations focus on understanding the experiimentally-observed oscillatory “C-to-spot” formation of the contraction-inducing intracellular species myosin (Koehl and McNalley, 2002), the goal of the model is to better understand the fundamental biochemical and mechanical processes that are necessary to observe extension of the leading edge of Dd and the contraction of its rear, both of which occur in a highly coordinated periodic manner. A. Bagorda, V.A. Mihaylov, and C.A. Parent. Chemotaxis: moving forward and holding on to the past. Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 95:12–21, 2006. G. Koehl and J.G. McNally. Myosin II redistribution during rear retraction and the role of filament assembly and disassembly. Cell Biology International, 26:287–296, 2002. |
|---|
