Flaherty Brendan, McGarry J P, McHugh P E
National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
Cell Biochem Biophys. 2007;49(1):14-28. doi: 10.1007/s12013-007-0045-2.
Cell motility is an essential biological action in the creation, operation and maintenance of our bodies. Developing mathematical models elucidating cell motility will greatly advance our understanding of this fundamental biological process. With accurate models it is possible to explore many permutations of the same event and concisely investigate their outcome. While great advancements have been made in experimental studies of cell motility, it now has somewhat fallen on mathematical models to taking a leading role in future developments. The obvious reason for this is the complexity of cell motility. Employing the processing power of today's computers will give researches the ability to run complex biophysical and biochemical scenarios, without the inherent difficulty and time associated with in vitro investigations. Before any great advancement can be made, the basics of cell motility will have to be well-defined. Without this, complicated mathematical models will be hindered by their inherent conjecture. This review will look at current mathematical investigations of cell motility, explore the reasoning behind such work and conclude with how best to advance this interesting and challenging research area.
细胞运动是我们身体的创建、运作和维持过程中一种必不可少的生物学行为。构建阐明细胞运动的数学模型将极大地推动我们对这一基本生物学过程的理解。借助精确的模型，就有可能探究同一事件的多种排列组合，并简要地研究其结果。虽然在细胞运动的实验研究方面已经取得了巨大进展，但现在在未来的发展中，数学模型在某种程度上已开始发挥主导作用。其明显原因在于细胞运动的复杂性。利用当今计算机的处理能力将使研究人员有能力运行复杂的生物物理和生化情景，而无需面对体外研究固有的困难和时间成本。在取得任何重大进展之前，必须对细胞运动的基础知识进行明确界定。否则，复杂的数学模型将因其固有的推测性而受到阻碍。本综述将审视当前对细胞运动的数学研究，探究此类研究背后的推理，并以如何最好地推进这一有趣且具有挑战性的研究领域作为结论。
