The influence of channel width on migratory cell morphology and migration speed.

<p>HOS cells are pictured as they migrate ‘upward’ toward a chemokine source through microchannels of various widths. Cells migrating in 50 µm (a) and 20 µm (b) -wide channels exhibit morphologies similar to cells on a planar surface (f). Cells migrating through 10 µm (c) and 6 µm (d) channels are laterally restricted by the channel walls. Cells migrating through 3 µm-wide channels (e) undergo significant deformation, becoming uniform and morphologically de-polarized. Scale bar for (a–f) is indicated in panel (f) as 50 µm. g) Cell migration speed inside different channels of each dimension was calculated, and shown to be influenced by microchannel width (error bars depict standard error of the mean).