Characterizing electrotaxis for control of cellular migration

It is well established that bioelectric fields arise during morphogenetic processes across many cell types, influencing development, metastasis, and wound healing. Many cell types use endogenous electric fields as a cue to guide cell migration in a process known as electrotaxis. While electrotaxis presents a tremendous opportunity for remote electronic control of cell migration, a formal physical approach exploring the limits and plasticity of this guided migration has not been conducted. In this work, we examine the input/output dynamics of electrotaxis in MDCK epithelial cell sheets, using rapid prototyping techniques to produce a versatile, reconfigurable platform capable of applying a programmable electric field to tissues. We modulate stimulation current density and duty cycle to probe the electrotaxis impulse and step responses. We also use live fluorescence imaging in labeled cell lines to characterize the biophysical response of the cytoskeleton during electrotaxis, which generates force during cell migration. Because collective cell migration is crucial to multicellular form and function, tools for reliable control would be invaluable for further studies of the biophysical processes underlying tissue development, wound healing, and other multicellular programs.