ABSTRACT
Cytoskeleton, and Adhesion Receptor Distribution ................................................... 14 2.3.4 Dynamics in Cell Polarization and Migration ............................................................ 17
2.4 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 17 2.5 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 19 References ........................................................................................................................................ 19
Cell motility is a fundamental process in embryonic morphogenesis and tissue homeostasis, including leukocyte recirculation, inflammation, wound healing, and angiogenesis. In addition, cell motility is fundamental to tumor cell invasion and metastasis. In the tissue, cell migration requires coordinated cellular interactions with a three-dimensional (3-D) extracellular tissue matrix. These interactions involve a series of coordinated attachment and detachment events, 1 as well as cellular strategies to overcome the biophysical resistance imposed by the extracellular matrix.2 With the exception of cell crawling across two-dimensional (2-D) surfaces, it has been difficult to investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms of cell migration in 3-D extracellular matrices, partially because of the lack of dynamic 3-D visualization techniques for the detection of cellular interactions with extracellular matrix.
