title: Phenomenological approaches to collective behavior in epithelial cell migration.
abstract: Collective cell migration in epithelial tissues resembles fluid-like behavior in time-lapse recordings. In the last years, hydrodynamic velocity fields in living matter have been studied intensely. The emergent properties were remarkably similar to phenomena known from active soft matter systems. Here, we review migration experiments of large cellular ensembles as well as of mesoscopic cohorts in micro-structured environments. Concepts such as diffusion, velocity correlations, swirl strength and polarization are metrics to quantify the cellular dynamics both in experiments as well as in computational simulations. We discuss challenges relating collective migration to single cell and oligocellular behavior as well as linking the phenotypic parameters to the underlying cytoskeleton dynamics and signaling networks. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Mechanobiology.
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany; Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Zorn
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany; Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna-Kristina
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Marel
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany; Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Segerer
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany; Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany; Nanosystems Initiative Munich, Schellingstraße 4, 80799 München, Germany. Electronic address: raedler@lmu.de.
authors.forename: Joachim O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Rädler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Active matter; Collective cell migration; Madin Darby canine kidney cells; Oligocellular assays; Phenomenological models