An in-silico model of epithelial cell interactions

Objectives: to investigate and build a computational model of the formation of compartments in oral stratified squamous epithelium. Methods: An individual based modelling method was used to simulate epithelial cell interactions. The model includes cellular biological processes such as cell adhesion, differentiation and division as well as cell types including stem, transit amplifying, intermediate, mature and dead. Stem and transit amplifying cells were allowed to divide provided they were on the basement membrane. The model allowed cells to increase in size before mitosis and subsequently to differentiate and migrate upwards through the epithelial compartments. Cell sorting arises from the Differential Adhesion Hypothesis which simulates cell adhesive interactions, and was modelled using a cellular automata approach. Results: The model simulated the typical ordered structure of a healthy epithelium provided differential adhesion and cell division are modelled appropriately. An aberrant epithelial structure could be induced by altering the model parameters. Conclusions: A computer simulation model can accurately simulate normal epithelial proliferation and differentiation. The behaviour of such computational models suggests that in future biological hypotheses may be tested in silico before embarking on expensive experiments within a laboratory. In-silico models may become an important tool for biologists as computer processing power becomes more available.