Figure 10.

Protrusive activity and nuclear displacement during random migration. Subconfluent BAECs were imaged at 5-min intervals for 2 h in the presence (C and D) or absence (A and B) of 100 μM blebbistatin. Top panels (A and C) show the area covered by new protrusions (▴, solid line) and the distance traveled by the nucleus (○, dashed line) during each 5-min interval for a typical single cell during 2 h of observation. In control cells, large protrusions were frequently followed by a large displacement of the nucleus within the next 5–10 min (arrows in A). In contrast, large nuclear movements in the presence of blebbistatin often preceded the formation of large protrusions (arrows in B). Bottom panels (B and D) show the distance moved by the nucleus as a function of the amount of protrusion that occurred during the preceding 5-min interval; dashed lines indicate the best linear fit to the data.