Broad-tailed force distributions and velocity ordering in a heterogeneous membrane model for collective cell migration

¹ Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, Powai, Mumbai-400 076, India
² Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, Powai, Mumbai-400 076, India

^(a) dibyendu@phy.iitb.ac.in
^(b) minamdar@iitb.ac.in

Received: 4 April 2012
Accepted: 14 June 2012

Abstract

Correlated velocity patterns and associated large length-scale transmission of traction forces have been observed in collective live cell migration as a response to a “wound”. We argue that a simple physical model of a force-driven heterogeneous elastic membrane sliding over a viscous substrate can qualitatively explain a few experimentally observed facts: i) the growth of velocity ordering which spreads from the wound boundary to the interior; ii) the exponential tails of the traction force distributions; and iii) the swirling pattern of velocities in the interior of the tissue.