Multi-scale models of cell and tissue dynamics.

Full Abstract

Cell and tissue movement are essential processes at various stages in the life cycle of most organisms. The early development of multi-cellular organisms involves individual and collective cell movement; leukocytes must migrate towards sites of infection as part of the immune response; and in cancer, directed movement is involved in invasion and metastasis. The forces needed to drive movement arise from actin polymerization, molecular motors and other processes, but understanding the cell- or tissue-level organization of these processes that is needed to produce the forces necessary for directed movement at the appropriate point in the cell or tissue is a major challenge. In this paper, we present three models that deal with the mechanics of cells and tissues: a model of an arbitrarily deformable single cell, a discrete model of the onset of tumour growth in which each cell is treated individually, and a hybrid continuum-discrete model of the later stages of tumour growth. While the models are different in scope, their underlying mechanical and mathematical principles are similar and can be applied to a variety of biological systems.

Author information

Author/s: Stolarska, Magdalena A (MA); Kim, Yangjin (Y); Othmer, Hans G (HG);

Affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University of St Thomas, 2115 Summit Avenue, St Paul, MN 55105, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences (Philos Transact A Math Phys Eng Sci), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 367 (issue 1902) : pp 3525-53

Dates: Created 2009/08/06; Completed 2009/10/21;

PMID: 19657010, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/21/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.