Boscolo, D.; Krämer, M.; Fuss, M.C.; Durante, M.; Scifoni, E. Impact of Target Oxygenation on the Chemical Track Evolution of Ion and Electron Radiation. Int. J. Mol. Sci.2020, 21, 424.
Boscolo, D.; Krämer, M.; Fuss, M.C.; Durante, M.; Scifoni, E. Impact of Target Oxygenation on the Chemical Track Evolution of Ion and Electron Radiation. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21, 424.
Boscolo, D.; Krämer, M.; Fuss, M.C.; Durante, M.; Scifoni, E. Impact of Target Oxygenation on the Chemical Track Evolution of Ion and Electron Radiation. Int. J. Mol. Sci.2020, 21, 424.
Boscolo, D.; Krämer, M.; Fuss, M.C.; Durante, M.; Scifoni, E. Impact of Target Oxygenation on the Chemical Track Evolution of Ion and Electron Radiation. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21, 424.
Abstract
The radiosensitivity of biological systems is strongly affected by the system oxygenation. On the nanoscopic scale and molecular level, this effect is considered to be strongly related to the indirect damage of radiation. Even though particle track radiolysis has been the object of several studies, still little is known about the nanoscopic impact of target oxygenation on the radical yields. We present here an extension of the chemical module of the Monte Carlo particle track structure code TRAX, taking into account the presence of dissolved molecular oxygen in the target material. The impact of the target oxygenation level on the chemical track evolution and the yields of all the relevant chemical species is studied in water under different irradiation conditions: different linear energy transfer (LET) values, different oxygenation levels, and different particle types. Especially for low LET radiation, a large production of two highly toxic species (HO2• and O2•− ), which are not produced in anoxic conditions, is predicted and quantified in oxygenated solutions. The remarkable correlation between the HO2• and O2•− production yield and the oxygen enhancement ratio observed in biological systems suggests a direct or indirect involvement of HO2• and O2•− in the oxygen sensitization effect. The results are in agreement with available experimental data and previous computational approaches. An analysis of the oxygen depletion rate in different radiation conditions is also reported.
Keywords
radiation track chemistry; chemical track structure; oxygen effect; oxygen depletion; ion beam therapy; ROS; superoxide anion
Subject
Physical Sciences, Radiation and Radiography
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
