Computational insights on the competition between electrotaxis and durotaxis

Pablo Sáez, Shardool Kulkarni, Custodio Nunes, Min Zhao, Elias Barriga
2026 · doi:10.64898/2026.02.02.700142
preprint OA: closed CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
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The paper studies how directed cell migration is affected when mechanical cues from substrate stiffness gradients (durotaxis) and electrical cues (electrotaxis) coexist, using established biophysical models. It reports that an applied electric field can override durotaxis and may even reverse it, with the effect depending strongly on the specific cell type. A limitation explicitly implied by the approach is that the work is computational/model-based, so it addresses the interaction of sensing and signaling characteristics rather than directly measuring migration in vivo. This paper does not explicitly discuss endometriosis or adenomyosis; it was included in the corpus via a keyword match in the upstream search index.

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Abstract Understanding how cells migrate in response to external cues has important implications for biology, medicine, and bioengineering. Chemical, mechanical, and electrical signals are the primary drivers of directed cell migration, and each has been extensively studied over the past decades. Among them, chemical cues were the first to be investigated and remain the most widely studied due to their undeniable role in in vivo guidance. Mechanical signals—particularly substrate stiffness gradients—have gained prominence for their ubiquity across cell types and their potential to direct migration. More recently, growing evidence suggests that electrotaxis offers a highly precise and programmable means to guide cell movement. Despite this, these cues are often studied in isolation, whereas in vivo they typically coexist and interact. Using wellestablished biophysical models, we investigate how mechanical and electrical signals cooperate and how they can be engineered to compete for control over cell migration. We demonstrate that an electric field can override and even reverse durotaxis, with outcomes that depend strongly on the specific cell type. To address this large variability in controlling cell migration, we propose particular steps toward further exploration. To support such future research, we provide a freely available platform for predicting electro-mechanical interactions in cell migration, based on a given cell’s sensing and signaling characteristics, which could tailor the mechanical and electrical signals that arise naturally during organ development, cancer invasion, or tissue regeneration. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

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[{'doi': None, 'name': 'Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades', 'awards': []}, {'doi': None, 'name': 'Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades', 'awards': ['PRE2020-095851']}, {'doi': None, 'name': 'European Research Council', 'awards': ['No. 950254']}, {'doi': '10.13039/100004410', 'name': 'European Molecular Biology Organization', 'awards': ['Young Investigator Programme, Project No. 5248']}, {'doi': '10.13039/501100001659', 'name': 'Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft', 'awards': ['EXC 2068, 390729961']}]

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License: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0