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Theory of the mitotic index and its application to tissue growth measurement

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Abstract

Analysis is made to show that the mitotic index is simply proportional to the ratio of the duration of mitosis (T) to the intermitotic time only under special conditions. In the case of exponential growth of cell population the simple proportionality hold if the product ofT and the growth constant is small. For power law (t n) growth of cell population the simple proportionality holds only when a steady state of growth has existed for at least ten intermitotic periods. The simple proportionality does not apply in conditions of transient growth.

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Author notes

  1. Joseph G. Hoffman

    Present address: Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Radiobiology Section of the University of California, Los Alamos, New Mexico

    Joseph G. Hoffman

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  1. Joseph G. Hoffman
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Additional information

This document is based on work performed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory of the University of California under government contract W-7405-eng-36 and the information contained therein will appear in Division V of the National Nuclear Energy Series (Manhattan Project Technical Section) as part of the contributions of the Los Alamos Laboratory.

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Hoffman, J.G. Theory of the mitotic index and its application to tissue growth measurement. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 11, 139–144 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02477499

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