Cell division and the stability of cellular populations

This paper couples a general d-dimensional (d arbitrary) model for the intr acellular biochemistry of a generic cell with a probabilistic division hypo thesis and examines the consequence of division for stability of cell funct ion and structure. We show rather surprisingly that cell division is capabl e bf giving rise to a stable population of cells with respect to function a nd structure even if, in the absence of cell division, the underlying bioch emical dynamics are unstable. In the context of a simple example, our stabi lity condition suggests that rapid cell proliferation plays a stabilizing r ole for cellular populations.