Effect of elasticity mismatch on cell deformation and migration: A phase-field study

The phase-field model for cell migration is used to study the effect of elasticity mismatch on the migration dynamics of multiple cells in a confluent monolayer, where one tagged cell is embedded by a number of normal cells and both types of cells are supposed to have the same properties except elasticity. Our results show that a larger elasticity mismatch leads to a larger difference in shape change between the tagged cell and the normal cells. We find that the bursts of velocity always fall behind the peak of the perimeter, and the shape change of the tagged cell results in the accelerated motion of the tagged cell in the whole process. Moreover, the variation of the averaging cell perimeter ratio L_tag/L_normal with the increase of the elasticity ratio γ_tag/γ_normal for different active velocities|v_a|is analyzed. We find that L_tag/L_normal decreases with the increase of γ_tag/γ_normal, following a simple power law function. Our results highlight the important role played by the cell elasticity mismatch in cell deformation and migration.