Computational model of mechanical forces effects on epithelial cell proliferation

Epithelia are sheets of cells that line the surfaces of organs and carry out important functional and structural roles for the multicellular organisms, including as barriers protecting internal cells from mechanical damage or infection. Understanding the regulation of epithelial cell mechanics is critical in defining the underlying basis of cancer development as well as for wound healing. In computational models, cells are typically approximated as polygons to simplify computation efforts, often resulting in incomplete descriptions of many morphogenetic processes including mitotic rounding during cellular division. Here we have developed a cell-based subcellular element (SCE) computational model implemented on high performance Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) clusters. The model represents mechanical properties of both the internal cytoplasm and outer membrane with subcellular nodes. The numerical results are compared with experimental data obtained from developing Drosophila wing imaginal discs, a genetic model system used to investigate the regulation of epithelial tissue growth. This work provides a computational framework that can be extended toward investigation the underlying mechanics of tissue size control at unprecedented levels of geometric detail.