The Oxygen Enhancement Ratio as a Function of Neutron Energy with Mammalian Cells in Culture

Abstract

Chinese hamster cells (V79) in culture under oxic and hypoxic conditions were irradiated with several neutron beams spanning a wide energy range to determine the oxygen enhancement ratio (OER). Eight essentially monoenergetic neutron beams, ranging from 0.22 to 13.6 MeV and a 0.11-MeV neutron spectrum, were produced at the Radiological Research Accelerator Facility (RARAF) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Additional experiments were performed at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, where neutrons are produced for radiotherapy by bombarding a beryllium target with 35-MeV deuterons. This beam has a broad energy spectrum with a mean energy of about 15 MeV. A maximum OER of about 1.9 was observed for 13.6-MeV neutrons. The OER values of the monoenergetic neutrons decreased with energy, plateaued at about 1.45 for the energy range from 0.22 to 2.0 MeV and increased slightly to about 1.55 for lower energy spectrum. In the light of microdosimetric data obtained for the neutron beams at RARAF, the OER appears to depend primarily on the intermediate-LET secondaries produced by neutrons in tissue, such as protons, while in contrast high LET-secondaries, such as ..cap alpha..-particles and recoil ions, play a minor role. The studies using the NRL neutron beam resulted in a lowermore » OER of about 1.67 as compared to the monoenergetic 13.6-MeV beam. This is a consequence of the fact that more of the dose is deposited by intermediate LET secondaries for the NRL neutron beam.« less