Considerations of Survival Curves and Target Theory

Abstract

Target theory is operationally useful, but not only for the study of radiation damage in itself. The current studies on the chemical make-up of cells from the macromolecular point of view, and on the behavior of these macromolecules in model systems, as well as investigations of energy absorption, transfer and utilization in these systems, might be given real biological meaning by radiobiological studies. They consist of similar physico-chemical studies on irradiated organisms using biological end-points as the measures. These are the only proofs of biological function. Should we be able eventually to associate our "targets", without which the cell cannot live, with these molecules, such as nucleoprotein, that are guessed to have important function, we have proved the molecule''s role in the cell. Then, the fruit of the study of survival of cells after irradiation and of the proper use of target theory as an aid is not so much the understanding of radiation damage, as it is the understanding of the biological organism.