Boundary-contact repolarization provides a mechanism for directional guidance of neural crest cell collectives
Abstract
Neural crest cells (NCCs) provide a well-established system for investigating collective migration during embryonic development and exhibit migratory behaviors with parallels to cancer invasion. Previous studies establish roles for co-attraction, contact inhibition of locomotion, polarity persistence, and tissue confinement in guiding NCC migration. However, it remains unclear whether NCC migration in confined environments occurs through spatial restriction alone or also through a repolarization response induced by contact with boundaries of confinement. By developing a computational model that couples self-generated chemical transport with contact-mediated repolarization and mechanical interactions, we show that cell-boundary contact can reorient cell polarity and sustain directional migration under confinement, whereas no persistent collective direction emerges without confinement. Moreover, suppressing contact-mediated repolarization from non-permissive confinement boundaries while preserving the mechanical interactions prevents sustained directional migration, suggesting that spatial restriction alone is insufficient in the model. Together, these findings establish an experimentally testable mechanism through which self-generated chemical signals and contact with confining tissues jointly regulate collective guidance of NCCs. These insights provide a basis for investigating developmental migration defects and potential strategies to regulate collective tissue invasion.
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BibTeX
@misc{paspunurwar2026boundarycontact,
title = {{Boundary-contact repolarization provides a mechanism for directional guidance of neural crest cell collectives}},
author = {Aditya Shankar Paspunurwar and Hector Gomez},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.12721},
eprint = {2610.12721},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.12721},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Boundary-contact repolarization provides a mechanism for directional guidance of neural crest cell collectives
AU - Aditya Shankar Paspunurwar
AU - Hector Gomez
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.12721
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.12721
AB - Neural crest cells (NCCs) provide a well-established system for investigating collective migration during embryonic development and exhibit migratory behaviors with parallels to cancer invasion. Previous studies establish roles for co-attraction, contact inhibition of locomotion, polarity persistence, and tissue confinement in guiding NCC migration. However, it remains unclear whether NCC migration in confined environments occurs through spatial restriction alone or also through a repolarization response induced by contact with boundaries of confinement. By developing a computational model that couples self-generated chemical transport with contact-mediated repolarization and mechanical interactions, we show that cell-boundary contact can reorient cell polarity and sustain directional migration under confinement, whereas no persistent collective direction emerges without confinement. Moreover, suppressing contact-mediated repolarization from non-permissive confinement boundaries while preserving the mechanical interactions prevents sustained directional migration, suggesting that spatial restriction alone is insufficient in the model. Together, these findings establish an experimentally testable mechanism through which self-generated chemical signals and contact with confining tissues jointly regulate collective guidance of NCCs. These insights provide a basis for investigating developmental migration defects and potential strategies to regulate collective tissue invasion.
ER -