title: A Gompertz age-specific mortality rate model of toxicity from short-term whole-body exposure to fission neutrons in rats.
abstract: A Gompertz age-specific mortality rate model was developed for toxicity resulting from a single dose of a toxicant resulting in nonrepaired injury that summates with natural (aging) injury. The model was applied to mortality data for male Sprague-Dawley rats subjected to short-term whole-body exposure to fission neutrons (D. Chmelevsky et al., Radiat. Res. 98, 519-535, 1984; J. LaFuma et al., Radiat. Res. 118, 230-245, 1989). The logarithmic-logistic function was used to relate the displacement of the Gompertz function with dose. Analysis of the age-specific mortality rate provides a measure of total injury over time from combined neoplastic and non-neoplastic causes and can be used to calculate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of different radiation sources. It is a useful adjunct to conventional risk assessment paradigms, particularly for those toxicants such as fission neutrons which result in a large number of competing causes of death other than cancer.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Connecticut, Storrs 06269.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Neafsey
authors.forename: W B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Lowrie
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009502:Neutrons; D011833:Radiation Injuries, Experimental / Q000401:mortality*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D013997:Time Factors; D014916:Whole-Body Irradiation