Integrative experimental/computational approach establishes active cellular protrusion as the primary driving force of phagocytic spreading by immune cells
Fig 6
Predictions of the protrusive zipper model with varying adhesion stress.
(A) Contact area increases faster and reaches higher values for higher ligand densities. The protrusion-only curve is shown for reference as a dashed line. (B) Magnified views of the leading edge of the model cell highlight subtle, adhesion-dependent changes of the pseudopod morphology. The shapes of the leading cell edge are shown for ρl = 0% and ρl = 100% at times ranging from 50 s to 130 s. On higher ligand density, both the extent of spreading and the dynamic contact angle increase. Other than that, the cell shapes exhibit little dependence on adhesion strength within the full protrusive zipper model.