scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1329897

Monte Carlo methods (65C05) Probabilistic models, generic numerical methods in probability and statistics (65C20) Developmental biology, pattern formation (92C15) Cell biology (92C37)

Review text

Here, a Monte Carlo approach to tissue cell formation is referred to. This approach is very flexible and, with only minor modifications to the basic version, can serve as a testbed for the simulation of tissue cell formation and developmental processes in all biological systems in which the patterns vary on a length scale of the order of a cell diameter. In a basic version of the model which corresponds to a model of cells in cell cultures, the biological cell is described in an off-lattice approach as a single unit with an average shape. Cell cultures have been shown to provide an extremely useful experimental tool for the study of cells and cell populations e.g., under the influence of radiation or chemicals and in particular for cases which do not allow in vivo experiments. In the model, a stochastic dynamics is assumed for cell movement, growth and division using the Metropolis algorithm. An interaction potential between neighbour cells is defined, consisting of a repulsive part, which takes into account the confined compressibility of a cell, and an attractive part, which depends on the cell type and is due to adhesive interaction of cell adhesion molecules in the cell membranes. The model is particularly suited to cell types with approximately spherical shapes as found in epithelial and connective tissue cells (with exception of blood cells and cells with long offshoots). These cell types constitute -- besides muscle and nerve cells -- the two basic cell types in higher eukaryotics. In a numerical simulation of monoclones in cell culture, the behaviour of statistical quantities, such as growth characteristics, number of clusters, density and space filling profile, number of interaction partners, generation number, subclone distribution etc. depend on the choice of the parameters in a transient time regime and have been found to be strongly related to the growth law. However, the question of the behaviour of the growth law on very long time scales had to be left open and should be examined in the present article. For this purpose, I carry out Monte Carlo simulations and compare the results with analytical calculations based on a simple model which, I believe, contains the most important analytical calculations based on a simple model which features the Monte Carlo model. The model explicitly considers the excluded volume effect of interacting cells. Some results obtained by numerical simulations and by analytical investigations are compared with experiments. Other predictions may be confronted with experimental results in the future. Finally, the behaviour of the growth law in populations is examined where the starting configuration consists of more than one cell. This corresponds better to experimental situations, where monoclonic growth conditions can be hardly achieved. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0913.00025].

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