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Motility
Motility : the capacity to move spontaneously or by reaction to stimuli.
Motility is the capacity of the cell to perform movements. The different movements of the cytoskeleton, especially those of actin filaments, give the cell its capacity to change its shape, divide and move. Motility is a complex phenomenon influenced by many factors such as hormones, growth factors, chemical attractors, etc.
All cells move at some moment in their lives. At embryonic stage the cells undergo numerous migrations during the differentiation and installation of different tissues: this process is called organogenesis.
Nonetheless, cells such as spermatozoa are more specialised in movement. These cells are endowed with specific organs called flagella.
As with all its creations, nature has built the apparatus of our motility in a way so ingenious and so simple that the result is an admirable harmony
Balzac, Théor. démarche,1833, p.631