The Relationship between the Mortality of Whole Animals and the Survival Curve for Single Cells

Abstract

In biological systems where the action of radiation or drugs sterilizes a proportion of a group of sensitive and critical cells it is suggested that the dependence of the differential mortality of the organism on the remaining number of viable cells can be given by an empiric log-normal curve with two adjustable parameters The mortality curve for the organism can then easily be obtained from the survival curve for the sensitive cells.