The temporal response of a glioma cell population to irradiation: modeling the effect of dose and cell density

Time-lapse fluorescence microscopy experiments were performed to track the cell density of F98 glioma cells under varying radiation doses and initial cell densities. Based on these results, a compartmental model characterizing the temporal response of a cancerous cell population to single-dose radiation therapy was developed. This model reproduces very well all the experimental data, with only three free parameters (and four others that are fixed). It allows to have access and follow the evolution of different cell populations after irradiation, in particular the senescent and repaired cell populations. From these different cell populations, surviving fractions could also be estimated. Most importantly, our model allows to analyze and quantify an inhibition effect (or cohort effect) of the dead and senescent cell populations on the regrowth of the repaired one.