title: Scaling concepts in cellular and subcellular dynamics.
abstract: After developing a map for certain states typical of hemopoietic stem cells (SCs), we identify a number of parameters (e.g. fractal dimensions, oscillatory behavior in a multistable landscape, etc.) that scale down to subcellular structures such as interphase genome, chromatids, chromatin entanglements and DNA segmental motions. A curious aspect is the continuous reappearance of recursive processes even at very small biologic scales. These iterations are relevant not only for the normal behavior of (hemopoietic) cells but also for amplifying hidden genomic singularities above some critical threshold. When that happens, there are sudden quali-quantitative and often clonal changes in the cell behavior. As illustrated by specific leukemic cases, many paradoxes of malignant growth seem best explained by the peculiar sensitivity to initial condition of (hemopoietic) cells. Interpreted as chaotic oscillators, these cells display a spectrum of disorders that, in spite of appearing as random, are in fact triggered by amplification of subtle preconditions with statistico-deterministic outcomes, that are predictable within certain time limits.
authors.affiliation: USC School of Medicine, Los Angeles 90033.
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Matioli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004247:DNA / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015698:Genomic Library; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000473:pathology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D004247:DNA