ArticlePLoS computational biology2020
The role of actin protrusion dynamics in cell migration through a degradable viscoelastic extracellular matrix: Insights from a computational model.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 135 citations in OpenAlex.
- Estradiol alters actin and protrusion dynamics in endometriotic epithelial cells.Journal of biological physics · 2026Article
- Glycocalyx micro- and nanodomains in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions revealed by enhanced click chemistry.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The interplay between the extracellular matrix and extracellular vesicle-associated microRNAs.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Review
- Trade-off between branching and polarity controls decision-making during cell migration.Science advances · 2026Article
- Emergence of multiple collective motility modes in a physical model of cell chains.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2025Article
- Article
- Three-component contour dynamics model to simulate and analyze amoeboid cell motility in two dimensions.PloS one · 2024Article
- A multiscale theory for spreading and migration of adhesion-reinforced mesenchymal cells.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023Article
- The Effect of Substrate Stiffness on Elastic Force Transmission in the Epithelial Monolayers over Short Timescales.Cellular and molecular bioengineering · 2023Article
- Nascent adhesions shorten the period of lamellipodium protrusion through the Brownian ratchet mechanism.Molecular biology of the cell · 2023Article
- Lose the stress: Viscoelastic materials for cell engineering.Acta biomaterialia · 2023Review
- A multiscale whole-cell theory for mechanosensitive migration on viscoelastic substrates.Biophysical journal · 2023Article
- Unravelling cell migration: defining movement from the cell surface.Cell adhesion & migration · 2022Review
- Quantitative modeling identifies critical cell mechanics driving bile duct lumen formation.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Chronic arsenic increases cell migration in BEAS-2B cells by increasing cell speed, cell persistence, and cell protrusion length.Experimental cell research · 2021Article
- Tools for computational analysis of moving boundary problems in cellular mechanobiology.Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Systems biology and medicine · 2020Review
- Computational models of migration modes improve our understanding of metastasis.APL bioengineering · 2020Review
- Simulating flow induced migration in vascular remodelling.PLoS computational biology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Actin protrusion dynamics plays an important role in the regulation of three-dimensional (3D) cell migration. Cells form protrusions that adhere to the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM), mechanically probe the ECM and contract in order to displace the cell body. This results in cell migration that can be directed by the mechanical anisotropy of the ECM. However, the subcellular processes that regulate protrusion dynamics in 3D cell migration are difficult to investigate experimentally and therefore not well understood. Here, we present a computational model of cell migration through a degradable viscoelastic ECM. This model is a 2D representation of 3D cell migration. The cell is modeled as an active deformable object that captures the viscoelastic behavior of the actin cortex and the subcellular processes underlying 3D cell migration. The ECM is regarded as a viscoelastic material, with or without anisotropy due to fibrillar strain stiffening, and modeled by means of the meshless Lagrangian smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. ECM degradation is captured by local fluidization of the material and permits cell migration through the ECM. We demonstrate that changes in ECM stiffness and cell strength affect cell migration and are accompanied by changes in number, lifetime and length of protrusions. Interestingly, directly changing the total protrusion number or the average lifetime or length of protrusions does not affect cell migration. A stochastic variability in protrusion lifetime proves to be enough to explain differences in cell migration velocity. Force-dependent adhesion disassembly does not result in faster migration, but can make migration more efficient. We also demonstrate that when a number of simultaneous protrusions is enforced, the optimal number of simultaneous protrusions is one or two, depending on ECM anisotropy. Together, the model provides non-trivial new insights in the role of protrusions in 3D cell migration and can be a valuable contribution to increase the understanding of 3D cell migration mechanics.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.