Abstract
A well‐suited model to simulate cellular population dynamics is the two‐dimensional cellular automaton model, which consists of a lattice of sites, the value ai,j of each site being updated in discrete time steps according to an identical deterministic rule depending on a neighbourhood of sites around it. A cellular automaton is described which mimics cell population proliferation by replacing the site values by the age and the cycle phase of cells. The model takes into account the size of the cells. It is used to simulate the proliferation of the human breast cancer cell line MCF‐7 and the results of the simulation are compared with experimental data obtained from a light microscopic image analysis of the proliferation process. The initial configuration of the cellular automaton is obtained from the discretization of the results of the initial stage of the image processing. After each day of proliferation the pattern obtained from the simulation is compared to the experimental result of the corresponding image analysis. The comparison is made from a topographical point of view through the concept of the minimal spanning tree graph. The agreement between experiment and model is a good starting point to complex models such as cell proliferation under growth effectors or drugs.
Highlights
Cell proliferation is a fundamental process in biological systems [24]
The initial configuration of the cellular automaton is obtained from the discretization of the results of the image analysis of a culture of the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 after Feulgen staining [5]
Initial configuration The initial configuration of the cellular automaton was obtained from the digitization of the results of an image analysis of a culture of the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 after Feulgen staining [5]
Summary
Cell proliferation is a fundamental process in biological systems [24]. Cells can remain quiescent for long times or can increase rapidly in number, for example, during embryogenesis and in wound healing. Cell division is controlled by a variety of regulative mechanisms, including the availability of space and the secretion of stimulating and inhibiting factors by cells in their environment. Cancer cells can be shown to have lost many of these controls. The modelisation of cancer cell growth by computer simulation is a way to indicate how cellular functions and microenvironmental factors may influence the morphological patterns obtained through the proliferation process. We will describe a cellular automaton which mimics the proliferating process of cancer cells in vitro
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