Confined cell migration - a dynamical systems perspective

In many biological phenomena, cells migrate through confining environments. However, a quantitative conceptual framework for confined migration has remained elusive. To provide such a framework, we employ a data-driven approach to infer the dynamics of cell movement, morphology and interactions of cells confined in two-state micropatterns. In this confinement, cells stochastically migrate back and forth between two square adhesion sites connected by a thin bridge. By inferring a stochastic equation of motion directly from the experimentally determined short time-scale dynamics, we show that cells exhibit intricate non-linear deterministic dynamics that adapt to the geometry of confinement. This approach reveals that different cell lines exhibit distinct classes of dynamical systems, ranging from bistable to limit cycle behavior. To connect these findings to underlying migratory mechanisms, we track the evolution of cell shape and develop a framework for the dynamics of cell morphology in confinement. Our approach yields a conceptual framework for the motility and morphology of confined cells which can be generalized to more complex environments including multiple interacting confined cells.