RESUMO
A mathematical model is presented which determines the relationship of cellular mutation to cellular survival and transformation. The basis for this model is the hypothesis that the entropy associated with changes of genotype are linearly proportional to the entropy associated with changes in phenotype. This hypothesis leads to a mathematical derivation relating cellular survival, mutation and transformation. The relevance of this model to data derived from experiments in chemical carcinogenesis is presented.
Assuntos
Transformação Celular Neoplásica , Animais , Carcinógenos/toxicidade , Sobrevivência Celular , Transformação Celular Neoplásica/efeitos dos fármacos , Transformação Celular Neoplásica/genética , Humanos , Matemática , Modelos Biológicos , Mutação , Processos EstocásticosRESUMO
The main obstacle to establishing pure normal human melanocytes in vitro is contamination of the cultures by fibroblasts. The obstacle can be overcome by selective destruction of fibroblasts with geneticin ( G418 sulfate). Treatment of mixed cultures with this drug at a concentration of 100 micrograms/ml for two days results in pure cultures of normal human melanocytes.
Assuntos
Fibroblastos/citologia , Melanócitos/citologia , Divisão Celular , Separação Celular/métodos , Meios de Cultura , Técnicas de Cultura/métodos , Fibroblastos/efeitos dos fármacos , Gentamicinas/toxicidade , Humanos , Cinética , Melanócitos/fisiologiaRESUMO
A model of cellular survival, mutation and transformation is presented in accordance with information theory. A cellular system is considered to be stable with respect to its environment when the vital information the cell expresses at least equals the information requirements of the environment. Environmental agents, such as mutagens, perturb the cell's expression of information such that an imbalance occurs between the cell's information requirement and the cell's ability to express vital information. This imbalance, which is interpreted as the intrinsic entropy of the cell, serves as a measure of biological cell death. If the cell compensates for the altered ability to express information by adapting to a less restricted set of information requirements, then one may view the cell as having undergone a "transformation" to a less restricted phenotype. This paper will elucidate the mathematical inter-relationships of cellular survival, mutation and transformation and will relate these mathematical concepts to chemical carcinogenesis.
