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Tissue architecture (1)
Normal organs are composed of multicellular ”functional
subunits” FSU (ex: nephrons in kidney, alveolus in lung)
A
FSU
is the
tissue volume
which can be regenerated by
a single stem cell. FSU are defined for tissue repair
purposes
Organ function depends on the ”aggregation” of cells into
functional subunits
Radiation response of an individual FSU depends on the
properties of the cells (radiosensitivity, regenerative
capacity) and on the number of stem cells in a FSU
Withers et al, IJROBP, 1988