Modeling Cell Division-Induced Motion in Cell Aggregates

Cell division is an important stage of the cell cycle. Cell division induces differentiation into multiple cell and tissue types during development and sustains tissues beyond developmental stages. Although the biochemistry and microscale biophysics of cell division are well-understood, questions remain concerning the effects of cell division on larger scale mechanical properties of confluent tissues. For example, do sites of cell division act as defects that affect the mechanical properties of tissues or to what extent do cell divisions induce cell rearrangements? We develop a novel deformable particle model for cell division, which includes cell-cell adhesion and energy costs for changes in cell area and perimeter in two dimensions (2D). We perform discrete element method (DEM) simulations of cells undergoing division in isolation and confluent 2D cell packings. We calculate cell shape and non-affine displacement fields of all cells as a function of time during division. We then compare our results to the cell shape parameter and non-affine displacements in experiments of MDCK cells dividing in confluent monolayers. Preliminary results show that our simulations accurately capture the shape changes during cell division and mechanical stresses mitotic cells induce in aggregates.