A stochastic model for protrusion activity
Abstract
In this work we approach cell migration under a large-scale assumption, so that the system reduces to a particle in motion. Unlike classical particle models, the cell displacement results from its internal activity: the cell velocity is a function of the (discrete) protrusive forces exerted by filopodia on the substrate. Cell polarisation ability is modeled in the feedback that the cell motion exerts on the protrusion rates: faster cells form preferentially protrusions in the direction of motion. By using the mathematical framework of structured population processes previously developed to study population dynamics [Fournier and M{\'e}l{\'e}ard, 2004], we introduce rigorously the mathematical model and we derive some of its fundamental properties. We perform numerical simulations on this model showing that different types of trajectories may be obtained: Brownian-like, persistent, or intermittent when the cell switches between both previous regimes. We find back the trajectories usually described in the literature for cell migration.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1808.00217,
title = {A stochastic model for protrusion activity},
author = {Christèle Etchegaray and Nicolas Meunier},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.00217},
year = {2018}
}