Figure 11

Comparison of two radiotherapeutic protocols. Top: Total cell number in response to standard therapeutic scheduling, i.e. 2 Gy applied twice within a 24 hour interval, and in response to a heuristic scheduling. Note that for the first 40 hours, the dotted line is superimposed on the continuous line since until the treatments diverge the populations are the same. Bottom: Evolution of the number of apoptotic cells due to irradiation protocols. The first treatment induces the same number of apoptotic cells. The effect of the second treatment in the standard protocol is negligible (black diamonds around time 50 h) in contrast to the heuristic approach (white diamonds pick at 40 h). Treatment delivery times are symbolized by vertical arrows: unfilled diamonds for the standard scheduling and solid diamonds for the heuristic approach.