Dynamics of actin waves on patterned substrates: a quantitative analysis of circular dorsal ruffles

PLoS One. 2015 Jan 9;10(1):e0115857. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115857. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Circular Dorsal Ruffles (CDRs) have been known for decades, but the mechanism that organizes these actin waves remains unclear. In this article we systematically analyze the dynamics of CDRs on fibroblasts with respect to characteristics of current models of actin waves. We studied CDRs on heterogeneously shaped cells and on cells that we forced into disk-like morphology. We show that CDRs exhibit phenomena such as periodic cycles of formation, spiral patterns, and mutual wave annihilations that are in accord with an active medium description of CDRs. On cells of controlled morphologies, CDRs exhibit extremely regular patterns of repeated wave formation and propagation, whereas on random-shaped cells the dynamics seem to be dominated by the limited availability of a reactive species. We show that theoretical models of reaction-diffusion type incorporating conserved species capture partially the behavior we observe in our data.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Actins / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Cell Membrane / drug effects
  • Cell Membrane / physiology
  • Cell Membrane / ultrastructure
  • Cell Surface Extensions / drug effects
  • Cell Surface Extensions / physiology*
  • Cell Surface Extensions / ultrastructure
  • Fibroblasts / cytology
  • Fibroblasts / drug effects
  • Fibroblasts / physiology
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Mice
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Models, Biological
  • NIH 3T3 Cells
  • Platelet-Derived Growth Factor / pharmacology
  • Time-Lapse Imaging

Substances

  • Actins
  • Platelet-Derived Growth Factor

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grant DO 699/4-1 of the German Research Foundation (http://www.dfg.de/en/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.