Dynamics of initial cell spreading : a hydrodynamics-governed process

The initial stages of spreading of a suspended cell onto a substrate under the effect of adhesion are systematically compared to the behaviour of model objects, simulated by finite elements. It has been reported that in different cell and adhesion types the spread area initially grows linearly and then as the square root of elapsed time. In addition our experiments show that the transition between these power-laws is triggered by geometry rather than absolute value of the area or elapsed time. This is shown to mean that mechanics rather than biochemistry govern the dynamics