Abstract:
Cell sorting is a fundamental process that is
involved in early embryo development, tumerogenesis and
morphogenesis. The sorting of heterotypic cell populations is
produced by a variety of inter-cellular actions, e.g. differential
adhesion and motility. We recently developed a software
system that simulates chemotaxis-based cell aggregation
in 2D. The model implemented within the system includes
a variety of physiological cell behaviors, such as chemical
diffusion/detection, motility, proliferation, adhesion and life
cycle stages. In this paper we extend the model to simulate
heterotypic cell sorting. This paper provides an overview of
the chemotaxis-based aggregation model and describes the
parameters and processes utilized to simulate the sorting of two
different cell populations based on chemotactic interactions.