Cooperative cell motility during tandem locomotion of amoeboid cells.

Streams of migratory cells are initiated by the formation of tandem pairs of cells connected head to tail to which other cells subsequently adhere. The mechanisms regulating the transition from single to streaming cell migration remain elusive, although several molecules have been suggested to be involved. In this work, we investigate the mechanics of the locomotion ofDictyosteliumtandem pairs by analyzing the spatiotemporal evolution of their traction adhesions (TAs). We find that in migrating wild-type tandem pairs, each cell exerts traction forces on stationary sites (∼80% of the time), and the trailing cell reuses the location of the TAs of the leading cell. Both leading and trailing cells form contractile dipoles and synchronize the formation of new frontal TAs with ∼54-s time delay. Cells not expressing the lectin discoidin I or moving on discoidin I-coated substrata form fewer tandems, but the trailing cell still reuses the locations of the TAs of the leading cell, suggesting that discoidin I is not responsible for a possible chemically driven synchronization process. The migration dynamics of the tandems indicate that their TAs' reuse results from the mechanical synchronization of the leading and trailing cells' protrusions and retractions (motility cycles) aided by the cell-cell adhesions

Three-Dimensional Quantification of Cellular Traction Forces and Mechanosensing of Thin Substrata by Fourier Traction Force Microscopy

We introduce a novel three-dimensional (3D) traction force microscopy (TFM) method motivated by the recent discovery that cells adhering on plane surfaces exert both in-plane and out-of-plane traction stresses. We measure the 3D deformation of the substratum on a thin layer near its surface, and input this information into an exact analytical solution of the elastic equilibrium equation. These operations are performed in the Fourier domain with high computational efficiency, allowing to obtain the 3D traction stresses from raw microscopy images virtually in real time. We also characterize the error of previous two-dimensional (2D) TFM methods that neglect the out-of-plane component of the traction stresses. This analysis reveals that, under certain combinations of experimental parameters (\ie cell size, substratums' thickness and Poisson's ratio), the accuracy of 2D TFM methods is minimally affected by neglecting the out-of-plane component of the traction stresses. Finally, we consider the cell's mechanosensing of substratum thickness by 3D traction stresses, finding that, when cells adhere on thin substrata, their out-of-plane traction stresses can reach four times deeper into the substratum than their in-plane traction stresses. It is also found that the substratum stiffness sensed by applying out-of-plane traction stresses may be up to 10 times larger than the stiffness sensed by applying in-plane traction stresses

The dynamics and mixing of small spherical particles in a plane, free shear layer

The equation of motion of small rigid spheres settling under gravity in a two-dimensional inviscid flow given by the Stuart solution of the Euler equations is analyzed as a fourdimensional dynamical system. It is shown that depending on the values of the Stokes, Grashof, and a scaled Reynolds number, particles may either sediment or remain permanently suspended in the flow. When suspension occurs, the particle trajectories are shown to be attracted by a single period, quasiperiodic, or chaotic orbits. A consequence of the existence of a strange attractor (chaotic orbit) is that heavy particles can reach a stage ofjhdization by which they remain indefinitely suspended in a layer of finite height located above the center of the Stuart vortices.Secretaria de Estado de Universidades e Investigación de España FPU-2868794

On the breakup of an air bubble injected into a fully developed turbulent flow. Part 2. Size PDF of the resulting daughter bubbles

Based on energy principles, we propose a statistical model to describe the bubble size probability density function of the daughter bubbles resulting from the shattering of a mother bubble of size D0 immersed in a fully developed turbulent water flow. The model shows that the bubble size p.d.f. depends not only on D0, but also on the value of the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy of the underlying turbulence of the water, [epsilon]. The phenomenological model is simple, yet it predicts detailed experimental measurements of the transient bubble size p.d.f.s performed over a range of bubble sizes and dissipation rates [epsilon] in a very consistent manner. The agreement between the model and the experiments is particularly good for low and moderate bubble turbulent Weber numbers, Wet = [rho][Delta]u2(D0)D0/[sigma] where the assumption of the binary breakup is shown to be consistent with the experimental observations. At larger values of Wet, it was found that the most probable number of daughter bubbles increases and the assumption of tertiary breakup is shown to lead to a better fit of the experimental measurements

On the breakup of an air bubble injected into a fully developed turbulent flow. Part 1. Breakup frequency

The transient evolution of the bubble-size probability density functions resulting from the breakup of an air bubble injected into a fully developed turbulent water ow has been measured experimentally using phase Doppler particle sizing (PDPA) and image processing techniques. These measurements were used to determine the breakup frequency of the bubbles as a function of their size and of the critical diameter Dc defined as Dc = 1.26 ([sigma]/[rho])3/5[epsilon][minus sign]2/5, where [epsilon] is the rate of dissipation per unit mass and per unit time of the underlying turbulence. A phenomenological model is proposed showing the existence of two distinct bubble size regimes. For bubbles of sizes comparable to Dc, the breakup frequency is shown to increase as ([sigma]/[rho])[minus sign]2/5[epsilon][minus sign]3/5 [surd radical]D/Dc[minus sign]1, while for large bubbles whose sizes are greater than 1.63Dc, it decreases with the bubble size as [epsilon]1/3D[minus sign]2/3. The model is shown to be in good agreement with measurements performed over a wide range of bubble sizes and turbulence intensitie

On the dynamics of buoyant and heavy partióles in a periodic Stuart vortex flow

In this paper, we study the dynamics of small, spherical, rigid particles in a spatially periodic array of Stuart vórtices given by a steady-state solution to the two-dimensional incompressible Euler equation. In the limiting case of dominant viscous drag forces, the motion of the particles is studied analytically by using a perturbation scheme. This approach consists of the analysis of the leading-order term in the expansión of the 'particle path function' <P, which is equal to the stream function evaluated at the instantaneous particle position. It is shown that heavy particles which re-main suspended against gravity all move in a periodic asymptotic trajectory located above the vórtices, while buoyant particles may be trapped by the stable equilibrium points located within the vórtices. In addition, a linear map for <P is derived to describe the short-term evolution of particles moving near the boundary of a vortex. Next, the assumption of dominant viscous drag forces is relaxed, and linear stability analyses are carried out to investígate the equilibrium points of the five-parameter dynamical system governing the motion of the particles. The five parameters are the free-stream Reynolds number, the Stokes number, the fluid-to-particle mass density ratio, the distribution of vorticity in the flow, and a gravitational parameter. For heavy particles, the equilibrium points, when they exist, are found to be unstable. In the case of buoyant particles, a pair of stable and unstable equilibrium points exist simultaneously, and undergo a saddle-node bifurcation when a certain parameter of the dynamical system is varied. Finally, a computational study is also carried out by integrating the dynamical system numerically. It is found that the analytical and computational results are in agreement, provided the viscous drag forces are large. The computational study covers a more general regime in which the viscous drag forces are not necessarily dominant, and the effects of the various parametric inputs on the dynamics of buoyant particles are investigated

Vorticity dynamics in three-dimensional pulsating co-flowing jet diffusion flames

The vorticity dynamics in the near field of laminar (Re = 103) co-flowing jets subjected to the single or combined effeets of axial and azimuthal forcing is analyzed. It is shown that the interaction of the three-dimensional vortex structure resulting from the growth of the two and three-dimensional instabilities may result in large changes in the entrainment and mixing characteristics of the jet. For each azimuthal forcing, and for a fixed velocity ratio between the inner and outer jet, we show the existence of several instability modes leading to a pattern of lateral ejections of closed vortex loops. These modes and their topological changes are analyzed in view of the three-dimensional inviscid induction of the two concentric array of vortex rings emanating from the j e t s exit nozzle. For the case of methane-air diffusion flames, fiow visualizations revealed the existence of qualitatively similar patterns of closed fíame cells and fingers