MONTE-CARLO APPROACH TO TISSUE-CELL POPULATIONS

We describe a stochastic dynamics of tissue cells with special emphasi s on epithelial cells and fibroblasts and fibrocytes of the connective tissue. Pattern formation and growth characteristics of such cell pop ulations in culture are investigated numerically by Monte Carlo simula tions for quasi-two-dimensional systems of cells. A number of quantita tive predictions are obtained which may be cofronted with experimental results. Furthermore we introduce several biologically motivated vari ants of our basic model and briefly discuss the simulation of two-dime nsional analogs of two complex processes in tissues: the growth of a s arcoma across an epithelial boundary and the wound healing of a skin c ut. As compared to other approaches, we find the Monte Carlo approach to tissue growth and structure to be particularly simple and flexible. It allows for a hierarchy of models reaching from global description of birth-death processes to very specific features of intracellular dy namics.