A population balance model to investigate the effect of microgravity on the kinetics of in vitro cell proliferation

In this work a mathematical model helpful to investigate the effects of microgravity on the kinetics of in vitro proliferation of adherent cells is proposed. The model is based on a Population Balance (PB) approach that allows to describe cell cycle progression through the different phases experienced by any cell of the entire population during its own life. Specifically, the proposed model has been developed as a multi-staged 2-D PB, by considering a different sub-population of cells for any single phase of the cell cycle. These sub-populations composing the entire population of cells of the cultivation system are discriminated through cellular volume and DNA content, that both increase during the mitotic cycle. A series of numerical simulations related to the in vitro proliferation kinetics of adherent cells is here reported for illustrating model capabilities. It is found that, the change of one adjustable parameter related to cell volume growth rate in response to a change of gravity is able to mimic cell culture behaviour under microgravity conditions, as reported in the technical literature.