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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/159357
Motility and morphodynamics of confined cells
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We introduce a minimal hydrodynamic model of polarization, migration, and deformation of a biologicalcell confined between two parallel surfaces. In our model, the cell is driven out of equilibrium by an activecytsokeleton force that acts on the membrane. The cell cytoplasm, described as a viscous droplet in the Darcyflow regime, contains a diffusive solute that actively transduces the applied cytoskeleton force. While fairlysimple and analytically tractable, this quasi-two-dimensional model predicts a range of compelling dynamicbehaviours. A linear stability analysis of the system reveals that solute activity first destabilizes a globalpolarization-translation mode, prompting cell motility through spontaneous symmetry breaking. At higheractivity, the system crosses a series of Hopf bifurcations leading to coupled oscillations of droplet shape andsolute concentration profiles. At the nonlinear level, we find traveling-wave solutions associated with uniquepolarized shapes that resemble experimental observations. Altogether, this model offers an analytical paradigmof active deformable systems in which viscous hydrodynamics are coupled to diffusive force transducers.
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LAVI, Ido, et al. Motility and morphodynamics of confined cells. Physical Review E. 2020. Vol. 101, num. 2, pags. 022404. ISSN 1539-3755. [consulted: 18 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/159357