title: Spatial distribution of filament elasticity determines the migratory behaviors of a cell.
abstract: Any cellular response leading to morphological changes is highly tuned to balance the force generated from structural reorganization, provided by actin cytoskeleton. Actin filaments serve as the backbone of intracellular force, and transduce external mechanical signal via focal adhesion complex into the cell. During migration, cells not only undergo molecular changes but also rapid mechanical modulation. Here we focus on determining, the role of spatial distribution of mechanical changes of actin filaments in epithelial, mesenchymal, fibrotic and cancer cells with non-migration, directional migration, and non-directional migration behaviors using the atomic force microscopy. We found 1) non-migratory cells only generated one type of filament elasticity, 2) cells generating spatially distributed two types of filament elasticity showed directional migration, and 3) pathologic cells that autonomously generated two types of filament elasticity without spatial distribution were actively migrating non-directionally. The demonstration of spatial regulation of filament elasticity of different cell types at the nano-scale highlights the coupling of cytoskeletal function with physical characters at the sub-cellular level, and provides new research directions for migration related disease.
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University , Tainan , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hans I-Chen
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Harn
authors.affiliation: b Department of Dermatology , National Cheng Kung University Medical Hospital , Tainan , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chao-Kai
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: c Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy , College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University , Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yang-Kao
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: d Department of Physiology , College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University , Tainan , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: e Department of Biomedical Engineering , College of Engineering, National Cheng Kung University , Tainan , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Tai
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: d Department of Physiology , College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University , Tainan , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsi-Hui
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: f Institute of Nanoengineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University , Hsinchu , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chao-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University , Tainan , Taiwan.|d Department of Physiology , College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University , Tainan , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Jer
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002465:Cell Movement; D016764:Cell Polarity; D004548:Elasticity; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007627:Keloid / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000473:pathology; D058105:Polymerization
chemical_list: D000199:Actins
keywords: actin filament elasticity; atomic force microscope; cell migration