Cell growth

Cell growth ( English cell growth is) the size and increase in volume of individual cells . It is genetically controlled and mainly takes place between successive cell divisions . The prerequisite for cell growth is a functioning cellular metabolism , a process in which the cells process nutrient molecules.

The maximum increase in size results from the ratio of surface to volume . Since the surface mathematically only grows to the square , but the volume grows to the cube, at some point a cell no longer has enough surface to absorb enough nutrients and release pollutants. Therefore the size of single cells is limited. This limitation is probably also responsible for the development of multicellularity .

In medicine , especially in oncology , the term cell growth is often equated with the increase in the number of cells (for example in a tumor ). Here (apart from changes in size during cell division) the individual cells do not grow, only the cell culture (for example bacterial strains ). Tumor growth in particular often follows the well-known Gompertz equation as a good approximation:

${\displaystyle {\frac {dN}{dt}}=\lambda e^{-at}N}$

Here the exponential decrease in the growth rate corresponds to a poor supply of nutrients inside a solid tumor.

See also

• Anabolism
• assimilation
• Building metabolism
• Generation time
• Growth rate