Space sequences reveal an organized cell proliferation in the developing chick optic tectum

MAZZEO, J; RAPACIOLI, M; FUENTES, F; DI GUILMI, M; ORTALLI, A; D'ATTELLIS, C; FLORES, V

Venecia, Italia.

Congreso; The 5th International MultiConference on Mathematics and Computers in Biology and Chemistry; 2004

The cell proliferation in the developing chick optic tectum is analyzed as stochastic point process. Space sequences obtained by recording the position of each proliferating cell along the cephalic-caudal axis of the developing Tectum Opticum were processed by two standardized algorithms to estimate the scaling coefficient of the process. Our results give support to the hypothesis that that the dynamics of proliferation comprises deterministic and stochastic components. The characterization of the deterministic component and its incorporation into several different simulated stochastic point processes makes the simulated processes to appropriately represent some characteristics of the cell proliferation records. Our results also indicate that the stochastic component of the cell proliferation records does not correspond to a stochastic point process with interevent intervals with uniform probability distribution. Stochastic point processes simulated with interevent intervals with lognormal, exponential and gamma distribution better represents the cell proliferation records. Our results demonstrate that the proliferative activity is spatially organized. The space-dependency should possess relevant morphogenetic effects. Implications of the present results with regards to models of cell proliferation are discussed.