Three-dimensional chemotaxis model for a crawling neutrophil.

Chemotactic cell migration is a fundamental phenomenon in complex biological processes. A rigorous understanding of the chemotactic mechanism of crawling cells has important implications for various medical and biological applications. In this paper, we propose a three-dimensional model of a single crawling cell to study its chemotaxis. A single-cell study of chemotaxis has an advantage over studies of a population of cells in that it provides a clearer observation of cell migration, which leads to more accurate assessments of chemotaxis. The model incorporates the surface energy of the cell and the interfacial interaction between the cell and substrate. The semi-implicit Fourier spectral method is applied to achieve high efficiency and numerical stability. The simulation results provide the kinetic and morphological traits of a crawling cell during chemotaxis.