Excitable waves at the margin of the contact area between a cell and a substrate
O. Ali , C. Albigès-Rizo , M.R. Block and B. Fourcade .
Physical Biology 6, 025010 (2009) [Accès à la revue]
La biochimie de la régulation du cytosquelette d'actine des cellules vivantes dépend des efforts mécaniques intervenant au cours de l'adhésion entre la cellule et son substrat. Nous décrivons ici une approche physique qui permet de décrire l'auto-amplification d'un activateur au voisinage immédiat du bord cellulaire.
Abstract: In this paper, we study a new physical mechanism to generate an activator field which signals the extreme margin of the contact area between an adherent cell and the substrate. This mechanism is based on the coupling between the adhesive bridges connecting the substrate to the cytoskeleton and a cytosolic activator. Once activated by adhesion on the adhesive bridges, this activator is free to diffuse on the membrane. We propose that this activator is part of the mecano-transduction pathway which links adhesion to actin polymerization and, thus, to cellular motility. Consequences of our model are as follows : (a) The activator is localised at the rim of the contact area; (b) The adhesion is reinforced at the margin of the contact area between the cell and the substrate ; (c) Excitable waves of activator can propagate along the adhesion rim.
Thème : Thème 2007-2010 : Adhésion
Equipe : DySAD (IAB)