Optimal Energetic Conditions for Cell Seeding of Scaffolds

Abstract

Tissue Engineering is a novel area of biomedical research that combines the principles and methods of engineering and biology, in order to develop living tissues in vitro. The creation of functional tissue constructs presumes that living cells are seeded on different types and structures of biomaterials. Since the laboratory experiments are expensive and hard to perform, the computational approaches to tissue engineering are a cost-efficient alternative for predicting the growth of tissue constructs in vitro. This study developed computational models of biological systems formed by a cellular aggregate located on the plane surface of a biomaterial, respectively by a cellular aggregate located on a porous scaffold. Based on the Metropolis Monte Carlo method, we simulate the evolution of a cellular aggregate on the biomaterial’s surface and we identify the energetic conditions that lead to a uniform and rapid cell spreading. We have monitored the evolution of the centre of mass of the cells in the system and the number of cells attached to the substrate after running a certain number of Monte Carlo steps and we found that cell-cell interactions disfavor cell spreading, while cell-biomaterial interactions favor cell spreading. We have also simulated the distribution of cells in a porous scaffold, analyzing the energetic conditions that lead to a successful cell seeding.