I am reading some works in mice which say: lethal dose to promote bone marrow ablation for further transplantation. I am wondering if this nomenclature (lethal) is correct.
I can't give you a qualified answer, just a personal opinion: it doesn't sound right to me, as far as I know "lethal" is to be used only when something causes death.
Also not a qualified answer, but a different point of view: When I teach radiation protection I like to ask students, whether there is an upper limit to dose to patients in therapy, and then I tell them "no, we are even allowed to 'kill' them for bone marrow ablation." I use this, as I hope the message gets across. In a publicatory setting I would also talk about a "potentially lethal dose", a slight deviation from the phrase in question.
"Lethal dose of irradiation" is frequently used in murine allogeneic bone marrow transplant models, which means, if without bone marrow transplant, majority or all of irradiated mice will die. Instead, "sublethal dose" means, even without bone marrow transplant, majority or all of irradiated mice will still survive.
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