"Looking under the microscope, a group of cells slowly moves forward in a line, like a train on the tracks. The cells navigate through complex environments.
The majority of the cells in the human body cannot move. Some specific ones, however, can go to different places. For example, in wound healing, cells move through the body to repair damaged tissue.
They sometimes travel alone or in different group sizes.
The first thing the scientists in Austria looked at was the speed of the cell trains. The simulation revealed that the speed of the trains is independent of their length, whether they consist of two or ten cells. “Imagine if the first cell did all the work, dragging the others behind it; the overall performance would decrease,” says Hannezo. “But that’s not the case. Within the trains, all the cells are polarized in the same direction. They are aligned and in sync about their movement and smoothly move forward.” In other words, the trains operate like an all-wheel drive rather than just a front-wheel drive.
From an efficiency standpoint, it sounds like moving in clusters is not ideal. However, the model predicted that it also had its benefits when cells navigate through complex terrain, as they do, for instance, in the human body.
Naturally, the question arises: when do cells move in clusters, and when do they move in trains? The answer is that both scenarios are observed in nature.
“Our model doesn’t only apply to a single process. Instead, it is a broadly applicable framework showing that placing cells in an environment with geometric constraints is highly instructive, as it challenges them and allows us to decipher their interactions with each other,” Hannezo adds."
The first thing the scientists in Austria looked at was the speed of the cell trains. The simulation revealed that the speed of the trains is independent of their length, whether they consist of two or ten cells. “Imagine if the first cell did all the work, dragging the others behind it; the overall performance would decrease,” says Hannezo. “But that’s not the case. Within the trains, all the cells are polarized in the same direction. They are aligned and in sync about their movement and smoothly move forward.” In other words, the trains operate like an all-wheel drive rather than just a front-wheel drive.
From an efficiency standpoint, it sounds like moving in clusters is not ideal. However, the model predicted that it also had its benefits when cells navigate through complex terrain, as they do, for instance, in the human body.
Naturally, the question arises: when do cells move in clusters, and when do they move in trains? The answer is that both scenarios are observed in nature.
“Our model doesn’t only apply to a single process. Instead, it is a broadly applicable framework showing that placing cells in an environment with geometric constraints is highly instructive, as it challenges them and allows us to decipher their interactions with each other,” Hannezo adds."
SciTechDaily