Far from equilibrium dynamics of tracer particles embedded in a growing multicellular spheroid

2020/03/29 by Himadri S. Samanta, Samanta, Himadri S., Sumit Sinha +3 · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Alpha (finance) #BETA (programming language) #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Biology #Biophysics #Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #Chemistry #Classical mechanics #Computer science #Displacement (psychology) #Division (mathematics) #Dynamics (music) #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Mathematics #Mean squared displacement #Micro and Nano Robotics #Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies #Molecular dynamics #Motion (physics) #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Statistics #Tissues and Organs (q-bio.TO) #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech #physics.bio-ph #q-bio.CB #q-bio.TO

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2003.12941

5 pages, 5 figures

openalex publication_date 2020/03/29 · arxiv created 2020/10/17 · arxiv updated 2020/10/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

By embedding inert tracer particles (TPs) in a growing multicellular spheroid the local stresses on the cancer cells (CCs) can be measured. In order for this technique to be effective the unknown effect of the dynamics of the TPs on the CCs has to be elucidated to ensure that the TPs do not greatly alter the local stresses on the CCs. We show, using theory and simulations, that the self-generated (active) forces arising from proliferation and apoptosis of the CCs drive the dynamics of the TPs far from equilibrium. On time scales less than the division times of the CCs, the TPs exhibit sub-diffusive dynamics (the mean square displacement, Δ_TP(t) ∼ t^β_TP with β_TP<1), similar to glass-forming systems. Surprisingly, in the long-time limit, the motion of the TPs is hyper-diffusive (Δ_TP(t) ∼ t^α_TP with α_TP>2) due to persistent directed motion for long times. In comparison, proliferation of the CCs randomizes their motion leading to superdiffusive behavior with α_CC exceeding unity. Most importantly, α_CC is not significantly affected by the TPs. Our predictions could be tested using in vitro imaging methods where the motion of the TPs and the CCs can be tracked.

Cited by

• Tracer particles sense local stresses in an evolving multicellular spheroid without affecting the anomalous dynamics of the cancer cells
• Inter-particle adhesion regulates the surface roughness of growing dense three-dimensional active particle aggregates

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