Modeling Cell Size Dynamics in a Confined Nonuniform Dense Cell Culture

Abstract

In this work, we analyze an ensemble of dividing and growing living cells that maintain contact with each other. The dynamics of the cell area distribution in a confined system is theoretically investigated in both uniform and nonuniform settings. The effective pressure is introduced to model the experimentally observed phenomenon in which the average cell size dramatically decreases over time. For a nonuniform system, the cell shift due to the gradient of the effective pressure is considered and its effect on the average cell area profiles is examined.