NON-STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS OF CELLULAR DEVELOPMENT

A discrete, compartmental, representation is proposed for cellular development. Equations describing the kinetics of cellular development (with or without cell proliferation) are derived in both differential and integral form. Using an integral formulation, a method is proposed for the computation of compartment transit times (maturation times) which does not require the use of radioactive or other tracers. Although some restrictive conditions are imposed, the applicability of the method does not depend on strictly steady-state conditions, nor on purely exponential growth or decay. The method permits analysis of cellular development in certain non-steady cases for which existing analytical methods are inadequate. It is possible that patterns of cellular development during embryogenesis, recovery from insults, or growth in culture (e.g. of normal and leukaemic human granulocytes) could be examined using this method of analysis.