Cell motility and proliferation in 2D and 3D substrata. Applications to chemotaxis, wound healing and collective migration.

A wide range of physiological and pathological processes, such as inflammation, tissue regeneration, angiogenesis, tumour growth and invasion, are strongly linked to cell proliferation and migration mechanisms that govern the dynamic evolution of both individual cells and cell aggregates. The complex mechanisms governing cell dynamic behavior have yet to be completely clarified. A detailed analysis of these processes requires a rigorous approach to quantitatively analyze cell dynamics and measure cell movement and proliferation indices. This work is addressed to investigate the dynamic evolution of cells, from single to collective cell dynamic behavior, in a quantitative way. Our methodological approach is based on live cell imaging in vitro, coupled to several cell migration assays, and image analysis techniques. Live cell imaging based on in vitro time-lapse microscopy is a powerful analytical tool that allows direct visualization of biological systems during their dynamic evolution. In order to maintain cell viability, the sample is kept in a controlled air, constant temperature environment. The experimental data are used to model cell dynamic evolution using mathematical equations based on the transport phenomena approach.