RESEARCH ARTICLE Three-Dimensional Numerical Model of Cell Morphology during Migration in Multi- Signaling Substrates Seyed Jamaleddin Mousavi1,2,3, Mohamed Hamdy Doweidar1,2,3* 1 Group of Structural Mechanics and Materials Modeling (GEMM), Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain, 2 Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Engineering and Architecture (EINA), University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain, 3 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Zaragoza, Spain *
[email protected] (MHD) a11111 Abstract Cell Migration associated with cell shape changes are of central importance in many biologi- cal processes ranging from morphogenesis to metastatic cancer cells. Cell movement is a result of cyclic changes of cell morphology due to effective forces on cell body, leading to OPEN ACCESS periodic fluctuations of the cell length and cell membrane area. It is well-known that the cell Citation: Mousavi SJ, Hamdy Doweidar M (2015) can be guided by different effective stimuli such as mechanotaxis, thermotaxis, chemotaxis Three-Dimensional Numerical Model of Cell and/or electrotaxis. Regulation of intracellular mechanics and cell’s physical interaction with Morphology during Migration in Multi-Signaling Substrates. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0122094. its substrate rely on control of cell shape during cell migration. In this notion, it is essential to doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122094 understand how each natural or external stimulus may affect the cell behavior. Therefore, a Academic Editor: Christof Markus Aegerter, three-dimensional (3D) computational model is here developed to analyze a free mode of University of Zurich, SWITZERLAND cell shape changes during migration in a multi-signaling micro-environment.