This review presents the different physical descriptions of cell assemblies. After a short presentation of discrete models, very popular in studies of epithelial tissues, we focus more on multi-cellular spheroids containing a variety of components. In particular, we highlight both an approach based on the Smoluchowski theory of aggregation that does not consider the spatial structure of the aggregates and a continuous model for cell mixtures based on the Onsager formalism combined with the Rayleigh principle for the dynamics of dissipative systems. We show how the first approach allows to obtain the physical constants of the cells by comparison with experimental aggregates comprising a single cancerous cell line, while the second one determines the fate of interacting and proliferating cell mixing as a function of the access to nutrients. For both models, the formalism is deeply revisited to be adapted to the specificity and diversity of biological multi-component tissues. Finite element numerical simulations are shown to illustrate the potential of these physical studies.

本综述介绍了电池组件的不同物理描述。在简短介绍了在上皮组织研究中非常流行的离散模型之后，我们更多地关注包含多种成分的多细胞球体。特别是，我们重点介绍了一种基于 Smoluchowski 聚合理论的方法，该方法不考虑聚合体的空间结构，以及基于 Onsager 形式主义与 Rayleigh 原理相结合的用于耗散系统动力学的细胞混合物的连续模型。我们展示了第一种方法如何通过与包含单个癌细胞系的实验聚集体进行比较来获得细胞的物理常数，而第二种方法确定相互作用和增殖细胞混合的命运作为获取营养的函数。对于这两种模型，都对形式主义进行了深入的重新审视，以适应生物多组分组织的特异性和多样性。有限元数值模拟显示了这些物理研究的潜力。