The track structures of ionizing particles and their application to radiation biophysics

Abstract 

A new approach to the interpretation of the effects of radiation on cells is described, in which sample particle tracks are constructed using a Monte Carlo computer program and the exposure of cellular targets to these tracks is simulated using a second program known as BIOPHYS. Data on the shapes and DNA contents of the cell nuclei are obtained from the literature. It is assumed that the sensitive material is DNA, and that the target is divided into cubes of approximately 2 nm (the diameter of the DNA helix) per side; the numbers of these cubes containing different numbers of ionizations are derived. Two different methods of analysing the output of BIOPHYS are described. In the first, it is assumed that lethality is caused by the occurrence of a number of ionizations equal to or greater than a certain threshold in one cube; in the second method, it is assumed that only two ionizations are required, in different parts of the cube, but that only some fraction of the cube is sensitive. These models have been applied to the interpretation of the variation of radiosensitivity with a linear energy transfer (LET) of spores of Bacillus subtilis exposed wet and dry, and good fits to the published experimental data were obtained using both models. Fits to experimental data for a range of other cell lines will be presented in a second paper.