In vitro transmesothelial migration assays of ovarian cancer cells, isolated oraggregated in multicellular spheroids, are reproduced deducing suitable Cellular PottsModels (CPM). We show that the simulations are in good agreement with the experimentalevidence and that the overall process is regulated by the activity of matrixmetalloproteinases (MMPs) and by the interplay of the adhesive properties of the cellswith the extracellular matrix and between cells, both of the same type and of differenttypes. In particular, the process depends on the ability of the cell to induce theloosening of cadherin-mediated junctions. Coherently with experiments, it is found thatsingle cell invasion is more conservative with a crucial role played by MMPs. A similarimportant role is played in cell spheroid invasion, which in comparison is moredisruptive. It achieves monofocal or multifocal characteristics according to the relativeadhesion affinity among cells or between them and the mesothelial layer.

After a surgically induced partial obstruction of the small intestine (ileum) in adult rats there is an accumulation of ingesta and a progressive enlargement of the lumen accompanied by wall thickening: over a period of 2–3 wk the circumference of the hypertrophic intestine increases by a factor of 2·7 and the thickness of the musculature increases more than threefold, while the length of the ileum (measured at the mesenteric attachment) remains unchanged. The villi become markedly larger and more elongated in the circumferential direction, and have a greater separation between one another. The number of villi per unit surface is markedly reduced but the number of villi per unit length of ileum, whilst appearing to show a small increase, was not significantly altered. The component epithelial cells (absorptive cells) appear unchanged in morphology and size (height). The microvilli of the epithelial cells have the same appearance, size (height) and packing density in the control and the hypertrophic ileum. Glands of Lieberkühn, Peyer's patches and single lymphatic follicles constituting the Peyer's patches are significantly increased in size in the hypertrophic intestine. The serosal surface of the hypertrophic ileum, in spite of the great expansion, remains regularly covered by mesothelial cells; these are much larger than in the controls and have an altered distribution of their microvilli.