ASYMPTOTIC-BEHAVIOR OF NONLINEAR SEMIGROUP DESCRIBING A MODEL OF SELECTIVE CELL-GROWTH REGULATION

A new scheme of regulation of cell population growth is considered, called the selective growth regulation. The principle is that cells are withdrawn from proliferation depending on their contents of certain biochemical species. The dynamics of the cell population structured by the contents of this species is described by the functional integral equation model, previously introduced by the authors. The solutions of the model equations generate a semigroup of nonlinear positive operators. The main problem solved in this paper concerns stability of the equilibria of the model. This requires stating and proving of an original abstract result on the spectral radius of a perturbation of a semigroup of positive linear operators. Biological applications are discussed.