A simulation approach to predict the calibration curve of low LET radiations for biological dosimetry using the Geant4-DNA toolkit

Abstract

Ionizing radiation is extensively utilized in various applications; however, it can lead to significant harm to living systems. In this regard, the radiation absorbed dose is usually evaluated by performing biological dosimetry and physical reconstruction of exposure scenarios. But, this is costly, time-consuming, and maybe impractical for a biodosimetry lab to perform biological dosimetry. This study aimed to assess the applicability and reliability of the Geant4-DNA toolkit as a simulation approach to construct a reliable dose-response curve for biodosimetry purposes as an appropriate substitution for experimental measurements. In this matter, the total number of double-strand breaks (DSBs), due to different doses of low LET radiation qualities on DNA molecules, was calculated and converted to the values of dicentric chromosomes using a mechanistic model of cellular response. Then, the number of dicentric chromosomes induced by 200 kVp X-rays were modified by using a semi-empirical scaling factor for compensating the restriction of simulation code to consider what can happen in a real cell. Next, the trend of dicentrics for 137Cs and 60Co were calculated and modified by the above scaling factor. Finally, the dose-response curves for these gamma sources compared to several published experiments. The suggested calibration curves for 137Cs and 60Co followed a linear quadratic equation: Ydic = 0.0054 (± 0.0133) - 0.0089 (± 0.0212) × D + 0.0568 (± 0.0051) × D2 and Ydic = 0.0052 (± 0.0128) - 0.00568 (± 0.0203) × D + 0.0525 (± 0.0049) × D2 respectively. They revealed a satisfactory agreement with the experimental data reported by others. The Geant4 program developed in this work could provide an appropriate tool for predicting the dose-response (calibration) curve for biodosimetry purposes.