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Mechanotaxis
Mechanotaxis refers to the directed movement of cell motility via mechanical cues (e.g., fluidic shear stress, substrate stiffness gradients, etc.). In response to fluidic shear stress, for example, cells have been shown to migrate in the direction of the fluid flow. Mechanotaxis is critical in many normal biological processes in animals, such as gastrulation, inflammation, and repair in response to a wound, as well as in mechanisms of diseases such as tumor metastasis. A subset of mechanotaxis - termed durotaxis - refers specifically to cell migration guided by gradients in substrate rigidity (i.e. stiffness). The observation that certain cell types seeded on a substrate rigidity gradient migrate up the gradient (i.e. in the direction of increasing substrate stiffness) was first reported by Lo et al. The primary method for creating rigidity gradients for cells (e.g., in biomaterials) consists of altering the degree of cross-linking in polymers to adjust substrate stiffness. ...
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Cell Migration
Cell migration is a central process in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. Tissue formation during embryonic development, wound healing and immune responses all require the orchestrated movement of cells in particular directions to specific locations. Cells often migrate in response to specific external signals, including chemical signals and mechanical signals. Errors during this process have serious consequences, including intellectual disability, vascular disease, tumor formation and metastasis. An understanding of the mechanism by which cells migrate may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for controlling, for example, invasive tumour cells. Due to the highly viscous environment (low Reynolds number), cells need to continuously produce forces in order to move. Cells achieve active movement by very different mechanisms. Many less complex prokaryotic organisms (and sperm cells) use flagella or cilia to propel themselves. Eukaryo ...
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Motility
Motility is the ability of an organism to move independently, using metabolic energy. Definitions Motility, the ability of an organism to move independently, using metabolic energy, can be contrasted with sessility, the state of organisms that do not possess a means of self-locomotion and are normally immobile. Motility differs from mobility, the ability of an object to be moved. The term vagility encompasses both motility and mobility; sessile organisms including plants and fungi often have vagile parts such as fruits, seeds, or spores which may be dispersed by other agents such as wind, water, or other organisms. Motility is genetically determined, but may be affected by environmental factors such as toxins. The nervous system and musculoskeletal system provide the majority of mammalian motility. In addition to animal locomotion, most animals are motile, though some are vagile, described as having passive locomotion. Many bacteria and other microorganisms, and multice ...
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2017 Non-canonical WNT PCP Signalling In Cancer Fzd6 Takes Centre Stage - Fig1
Seventeen or 17 may refer to: * 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese magazine), a Japanese magazine Novels * ''Seventeen'' (Tarkington novel), a 1916 novel by Booth Tarkington *''Seventeen'' (''Sebuntiin''), a 1961 novel by Kenzaburō Ōe * ''Seventeen'' (Serafin novel), a 2004 novel by Shan Serafin Stage and screen Film * ''Seventeen'' (1916 film), an American silent comedy film *''Number Seventeen'', a 1932 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Seventeen'' (1940 film), an American comedy film *''Eric Soya's '17''' (Danish: ''Sytten''), a 1965 Danish comedy film * ''Seventeen'' (1985 film), a documentary film * ''17 Again'' (film), a 2009 film whose working title was ''17'' * ''Seventeen'' (2019 film), a Spanish drama film Television * ''Seventeen'' (TV drama), a 1994 UK dramatic short starring Christie ...
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Haptotaxis
Haptotaxis (from Greek ἅπτω (hapto, "touch, fasten") and τάξις (taxis, "arrangement, order")) is the directional motility or outgrowth of cells, e.g. in the case of axonal outgrowth, usually up a gradient of cellular adhesion sites or substrate-bound chemoattractants (the gradient of the chemoattractant being expressed or bound on a surface, in contrast to the classical model of chemotaxis, in which the gradient develops in a soluble fluid.). These gradients are naturally present in the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the body during processes such as angiogenesis or artificially present in biomaterials where gradients are established by altering the concentration of adhesion sites on a polymer substrate. Clinical Significance Haptotaxis plays a major role in the efficient healing of wounds. For example, when corneal integrity is compromised, epithelial cells quickly cover the damaged area by proliferation and migration (haptotaxis). In the corneal stroma, keratocytes ...
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Durotaxis
Durotaxis is a form of cell migration in which cells are guided by rigidity gradients, which arise from differential structural properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Most normal cells migrate up rigidity gradients (in the direction of greater stiffness). History of durotaxis research The process of durotaxis requires a cell to actively sense the environment, process the mechanical stimulus, and execute a response. Originally, this was believed to be an emergent metazoan property, as the phenomenon requires a complex sensory loop that is dependent on the communication of many different cells. However, as the wealth of relevant scientific literature grew in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, it became apparent that single cells possess the ability to do the same. The first observations of durotaxis in isolated cells were that mechanical stimuli could cause the initiation and elongation of axons in the sensory and brain neurons of chicks and induce motility in previousl ...
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Chemotaxis
Chemotaxis (from '' chemo-'' + '' taxis'') is the movement of an organism or entity in response to a chemical stimulus. Somatic cell A somatic cell (from Ancient Greek σῶμα ''sôma'', meaning "body"), or vegetal cell, is any biological cell forming the body of a multicellular organism other than a gamete, germ cell, gametocyte or undifferentiated stem cell. Such cells compo ...s, bacteria, and other single-cell organism, single-cell or multicellular organisms direct their movements according to certain chemicals in their environment. This is important for bacteria to find food (e.g., glucose) by swimming toward the highest concentration of food molecules, or to flee from poisons (e.g., phenol). In multicellular organisms, chemotaxis is critical to early development (e.g., movement of sperm towards the egg during fertilization) and development (e.g., migration of neurons or lymphocytes) as well as in normal function and health (e.g., migration of White blood cell, leukocytes d ...
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Focal Adhesion Kinase
PTK2 protein tyrosine kinase 2 (PTK2), also known as focal adhesion kinase (FAK), is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''PTK2'' gene. PTK2 is a focal adhesion-associated protein kinase involved in cellular adhesion (how cells stick to each other and their surroundings) and spreading processes (how cells move around). It has been shown that when FAK was blocked, breast cancer cells became less metastatic due to decreased mobility. Function The PTK2 gene encodes a cytosolic protein tyrosine kinase that is found concentrated in the focal adhesions that form among cells attaching to extracellular matrix constituents. The encoded protein is a member of the FAK subfamily of protein tyrosine kinases that included PYK2, but lacks significant sequence similarity to kinases from other subfamilies. It also includes a large FERM domain. With the exception of certain types of blood cells, most cells express FAK. FAK tyrosine kinase activity can be activated, which plays a key ...
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Neural Crest
Neural crest cells are a temporary group of cells unique to vertebrates that arise from the embryonic ectoderm germ layer, and in turn give rise to a diverse cell lineage—including melanocytes, craniofacial cartilage and bone, smooth muscle, peripheral and enteric neurons and glia. After gastrulation, neural crest cells are specified at the border of the neural plate and the non-neural ectoderm. During neurulation, the borders of the neural plate, also known as the neural folds, converge at the dorsal midline to form the neural tube. Subsequently, neural crest cells from the roof plate of the neural tube undergo an epithelial to mesenchymal transition, delaminating from the neuroepithelium and migrating through the periphery where they differentiate into varied cell types. The emergence of neural crest was important in vertebrate evolution because many of its structural derivatives are defining features of the vertebrate clade. Underlying the development of neura ...
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Integrin
Integrins are transmembrane receptors that facilitate cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion. Upon ligand binding, integrins activate signal transduction pathways that mediate cellular signals such as regulation of the cell cycle, organization of the intracellular cytoskeleton, and movement of new receptors to the cell membrane. The presence of integrins allows rapid and flexible responses to events at the cell surface (''e.g''. signal platelets to initiate an interaction with coagulation factors). Several types of integrins exist, and one cell generally has multiple different types on its surface. Integrins are found in all animals while integrin-like receptors are found in plant cells. Integrins work alongside other proteins such as cadherins, the immunoglobulin superfamily cell adhesion molecules, selectins and syndecans, to mediate cell–cell and cell–matrix interaction. Ligands for integrins include fibronectin, vitronectin, collagen and laminin. ...
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Planar Cell Polarity
Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) is the protein mediated signaling that coordinates the orientation of cells in a layer of epithelial tissue. In vertebrates, examples of mature PCP oriented tissue are the stereo-cilia bundles in the inner ear, motile cilia of the epithelium, and cell motility in epidermal wound healing. Additionally, PCP is known to be crucial to major developmental time points including coordinating convergent extension during gastrulation and coordinating cell behavior for neural tube closure. Cells orient themselves and their neighbors by establishing asymmetric expression of PCP components on opposing cell members within cells to establish and maintain the directionality of the cells. Some of these PCP components are transmembrane proteins which can proliferate the orientation signal to the surrounding cells. Table of Contents # Introduction # Table of Contents # History of Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) Research # Core Planar Cell Polarity Components # Canonical Vs. N ...
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Vinculin
In mammalian cells, vinculin is a membrane-cytoskeletal protein in focal adhesion plaques that is involved in linkage of integrin adhesion molecules to the actin cytoskeleton. Vinculin is a cytoskeletal protein associated with cell-cell and cell-matrix junctions, where it is thought to function as one of several interacting proteins involved in anchoring F-actin to the membrane. Discovered independently by Benny Geiger and Keith Burridge, its sequence is 20%–30% similar to α-catenin, which serves a similar function. Binding alternately to talin or α-actinin, vinculin's shape and, as a consequence, its binding properties are changed. The vinculin gene occurs as a single copy and what appears to be no close relative to take over functions in its absence. Its splice variant metavinculin (see below) also needs vinculin to heterodimerize and work in a dependent fashion. Structure Vinculin is a 117-kDa cytoskeletal protein with 1066 amino acids. The protein contains an ac ...
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