| Issue |
EPL
Volume 90, Number 2, April 2010
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 28005 | |
| Number of page(s) | 5 | |
| Section | Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/90/28005 | |
| Published online | 20 May 2010 | |
Quantitative analysis of random ameboid motion
1
Institut für Angewandte Physik, WWU Münster - Corrensstraße 2/4, 48149 Münster, Germany, EU
2
Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Potsdam - Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24/25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany, EU
3
Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization - Am Fassberg 11, 37077 Göttingen, Germany, EU
4
Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action, University of Connecticut - 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
Corresponding author: carsten.beta@uni-potsdam.de
Received:
20
January
2010
Accepted:
13
April
2010
We quantify random migration of the social ameba Dictyostelium discoideum. We demonstrate that the statistics of cell motion can be described by an underlying Langevin-type stochastic differential equation. An analytic expression for the velocity distribution function is derived. The separation into deterministic and stochastic parts of the movement shows that the cells undergo a damped motion with multiplicative noise. Both contributions to the dynamics display a distinct response to external physiological stimuli. The deterministic component depends on the developmental state and ambient levels of signaling substances, while the stochastic part does not.
PACS: 87.17.Jj – Cell locomotion, chemotaxis / 05.10.Gg – Stochastic analysis methods (Fokker-Planck, Langevin, etc.) / 05.40.Fb – Random walks and Levy flights
© EPLA, 2010
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