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Stricklin DL, VanHorne-Sealy J, Rios CI, Scott Carnell LA, Taliaferro LP. Neutron Radiobiology and Dosimetry. Radiat Res 2021; 195:480-496. [PMID: 33587743 DOI: 10.1667/rade-20-00213.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
As the U.S. prepares for the possibility of a radiological or nuclear incident, or anticipated lunar and Mars missions, the exposure of individuals to neutron radiation must be considered. More information is needed on how to determine the neutron dose to better estimate the true biological effects of neutrons and mixed-field (i.e., neutron and photon) radiation exposures. While exposure to gamma-ray radiation will cause significant health issues, the addition of neutrons will likely exacerbate the biological effects already anticipated after radiation exposure. To begin to understand the issues and knowledge gaps in these areas, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Radiation Nuclear Countermeasures Program (RNCP), Department of Defense (DoD), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) formed an inter-agency working group to host a Neutron Radiobiology and Dosimetry Workshop on March 7, 2019 in Rockville, MD. Stakeholder interests were clearly positioned, given the differences in the missions of each agency. An overview of neutron dosimetry and neutron radiobiology was included, as well as a historical overview of neutron exposure research. In addition, current research in the fields of biodosimetry and diagnostics, medical countermeasures (MCMs) and treatment, long-term health effects, and computational studies were presented and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela L Stricklin
- Previously - Arlington Division, Applied Research Associates, Inc., Arlington
| | - Jama VanHorne-Sealy
- Army Reactor Program, United States Army Nuclear and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Agency (USANCA), Department of Defense, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
| | - Carmen I Rios
- Radiation and Nuclear Countermeasures Program (RNCP), Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation (DAIT), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rockville, Maryland
| | - Lisa A Scott Carnell
- Biological and Physical Sciences Division, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
| | - Lanyn P Taliaferro
- Radiation and Nuclear Countermeasures Program (RNCP), Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation (DAIT), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rockville, Maryland
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Mao XW, Boerma M, Rodriguez D, Campbell-Beachler M, Jones T, Stanbouly S, Sridharan V, Wroe A, Nelson GA. Acute Effect of Low-Dose Space Radiation on Mouse Retina and Retinal Endothelial Cells. Radiat Res 2018; 190:45-52. [PMID: 29741442 DOI: 10.1667/rr14977.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
There is concern that degradation of vision as a result of space flight may compromise both mission goals and long-term quality of life after space travel. The visual disturbances may be due to a combination of intracerebral pressure changes and exposure to ionizing radiation. The retina and the retinal vasculature play important roles in vision, yet have not been studied extensively in relationship to space travel and space radiation. The goal of the current study was to characterize oxidative damage and apoptosis in retinal endothelial cells after whole-body gamma-ray, proton and oxygen (16O) ion radiation exposure at 0.1 to 1 Gy. Six-month-old male C57Bl/6J mice were whole-body irradiated with 600 MeV/n 16O ions (0, 0.1, 0.25, 1 Gy), solar particle event (SPE)-like protons (0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 Gy) or 60Co gamma rays (0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 Gy). Eyes were isolated for examining endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression and characterization of apoptosis in retina and retinal endothelial cells at two weeks postirradiation. The expression of eNOS was significantly increased in the retina after proton and 16O ion exposure. 16O ions induced over twofold increase in eNOS expression compared to proton exposure at two weeks postirradiation ( P < 0.05). TUNEL assays showed dose-dependent increases in apoptosis in the retina after irradiation. Low doses of 16O ions elicited apoptosis in the mouse retinal endothelial cells with the most robust changes observed after 0.1 Gy irradiation ( P < 0.05) compared to controls. Data also showed that 16O ions induced a higher frequency of apoptosis in retinal endothelial cells compared to protons ( P < 0.05). In summary, our study revealed that exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation induced oxidative damage and apoptosis in the retina. Significant changes in retinal endothelial cells occur at doses as low as 0.1 Gy. There were significant differences in the responses of endothelial cells among the radiation types examined here.
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Affiliation(s)
- X W Mao
- a Departments of Basic Sciences, Division of Radiation Research
| | - M Boerma
- c Division of Radiation Health, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas
| | - D Rodriguez
- a Departments of Basic Sciences, Division of Radiation Research
| | | | - T Jones
- a Departments of Basic Sciences, Division of Radiation Research
| | - S Stanbouly
- a Departments of Basic Sciences, Division of Radiation Research
| | - V Sridharan
- c Division of Radiation Health, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas
| | - A Wroe
- b Radiation Medicine, Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Medical Center, Loma Linda, California
| | - G A Nelson
- a Departments of Basic Sciences, Division of Radiation Research
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Friedland W, Schmitt E, Kundrát P, Dingfelder M, Baiocco G, Barbieri S, Ottolenghi A. Comprehensive track-structure based evaluation of DNA damage by light ions from radiotherapy-relevant energies down to stopping. Sci Rep 2017; 7:45161. [PMID: 28345622 PMCID: PMC5366876 DOI: 10.1038/srep45161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 118] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2016] [Accepted: 02/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Track structures and resulting DNA damage in human cells have been simulated for hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and neon ions with 0.25–256 MeV/u energy. The needed ion interaction cross sections have been scaled from those of hydrogen; Barkas scaling formula has been refined, extending its applicability down to about 10 keV/u, and validated against established stopping power data. Linear energy transfer (LET) has been scored from energy deposits in a cell nucleus; for very low-energy ions, it has been defined locally within thin slabs. The simulations show that protons and helium ions induce more DNA damage than heavier ions do at the same LET. With increasing LET, less DNA strand breaks are formed per unit dose, but due to their clustering the yields of double-strand breaks (DSB) increase, up to saturation around 300 keV/μm. Also individual DSB tend to cluster; DSB clusters peak around 500 keV/μm, while DSB multiplicities per cluster steadily increase with LET. Remarkably similar to patterns known from cell survival studies, LET-dependencies with pronounced maxima around 100–200 keV/μm occur on nanometre scale for sites that contain one or more DSB, and on micrometre scale for megabasepair-sized DNA fragments.
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Affiliation(s)
- W Friedland
- Institute of Radiation Protection, Department of Radiation Sciences, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany
| | - E Schmitt
- Institute of Radiation Protection, Department of Radiation Sciences, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany
| | - P Kundrát
- Institute of Radiation Protection, Department of Radiation Sciences, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany
| | - M Dingfelder
- Department of Physics, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
| | - G Baiocco
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - S Barbieri
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - A Ottolenghi
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
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Baiocco G, Barbieri S, Babini G, Morini J, Alloni D, Friedland W, Kundrát P, Schmitt E, Puchalska M, Sihver L, Ottolenghi A. The origin of neutron biological effectiveness as a function of energy. Sci Rep 2016; 6:34033. [PMID: 27654349 PMCID: PMC5032018 DOI: 10.1038/srep34033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2016] [Accepted: 09/05/2016] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The understanding of the impact of radiation quality in early and late responses of biological targets to ionizing radiation exposure necessarily grounds on the results of mechanistic studies starting from physical interactions. This is particularly true when, already at the physical stage, the radiation field is mixed, as it is the case for neutron exposure. Neutron Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) is energy dependent, maximal for energies ~1 MeV, varying significantly among different experiments. The aim of this work is to shed light on neutron biological effectiveness as a function of field characteristics, with a comprehensive modeling approach: this brings together transport calculations of neutrons through matter (with the code PHITS) and the predictive power of the biophysical track structure code PARTRAC in terms of DNA damage evaluation. Two different energy dependent neutron RBE models are proposed: the first is phenomenological and based only on the characterization of linear energy transfer on a microscopic scale; the second is purely ab-initio and based on the induction of complex DNA damage. Results for the two models are compared and found in good qualitative agreement with current standards for radiation protection factors, which are agreed upon on the basis of RBE data.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. Baiocco
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - S. Barbieri
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - G. Babini
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - J. Morini
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - D. Alloni
- INFN, National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Sezione di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- LENA, Laboratory of Applied Nuclear Energy, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - W. Friedland
- Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - P. Kundrát
- Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - E. Schmitt
- Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | | | - L. Sihver
- Technische Universität Wien, Wien, Austria
| | - A. Ottolenghi
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
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Schneider U, Hälg RA, Baiocco G, Lomax T. Neutrons in proton pencil beam scanning: parameterization of energy, quality factors and RBE. Phys Med Biol 2016; 61:6231-42. [DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/61/16/6231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
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Alloni D, Baiocco G, Babini G, Friedland W, Kundrát P, Mariotti L, Ottolenghi A. Energy dependence of the complexity of DNA damage induced by carbon ions. RADIATION PROTECTION DOSIMETRY 2015; 166:86-90. [PMID: 25958411 DOI: 10.1093/rpd/ncv292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
To assess the complexity of DNA damage induced by carbon ions as a function of their energy and LET, 2-Gy irradiations by 100 keV u(-1)-400 MeV u(-1) carbon ions were investigated using the PARTRAC code. The total number of fragments and the yield of fragments of <30 bp were calculated. The authors found a particularly important contribution of DNA fragmentation in the range of <1 kbp for specific energies of <6 MeV u(-1). They also considered the effect of different specific energies with the same LET, i.e. before and after the Bragg peak. As a first step towards a full characterisation of secondary particle production from carbon ions interacting with tissue, a comparison between DNA-damage induction by primary carbon ions and alpha particles resulting from carbon break-up is presented, for specific energies of >1 MeV u(-1).
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Affiliation(s)
- D Alloni
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy LENA, Laboratory of Applied Nuclear Energy, University of Pavia, Via Aselli 41, Pavia, Italy INFN National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Sezione di Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy
| | - G Baiocco
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy INFN National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Sezione di Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy
| | - G Babini
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy INFN National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Sezione di Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy
| | - W Friedland
- Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg 85764, Germany
| | - P Kundrát
- Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg 85764, Germany
| | - L Mariotti
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy INFN National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Sezione di Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy Department of Oncology, Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology, Old Road Campus Research Building, Off Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7DQ, UK
| | - A Ottolenghi
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy INFN National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Sezione di Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy
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Ottolenghi A, Baiocco G, Smyth V, Trott K. The ANDANTE project: a multidisciplinary approach to neutron RBE. RADIATION PROTECTION DOSIMETRY 2015; 166:311-315. [PMID: 25870432 DOI: 10.1093/rpd/ncv158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED The usual method for estimating the risk from exposure to neutrons uses the concept of relative biological effectiveness (RBE) compared with the risk from photons, which is better known. RBE has been evaluated using cellular and animal models. But this causes difficulties in applying the concept to humans. The ANDANTE project takes a new approach using three different disciplines in parallel: Physics: a track structure model is used to contrast the patterns of damage to cellular macro-molecules from neutrons compared with photons. The simulations reproduce the same energy spectra as are used in the other two approaches. Stem cell radiobiology: stem cells from thyroid, salivary gland and breast tissue are given well characterised exposures to neutrons and photons. A number of endpoints are used to estimate the relative risk of damage from neutrons compared with photons. Irradiated cells will also be transplanted into mice to investigate the progression of the initial radiation effects in stem cells into tumours in a physiological environment. EPIDEMIOLOGY the relative incidence rates of second cancers of the thyroid, salivary gland and breast following paediatric radiotherapy (conventional radiotherapy for photons and proton therapy for neutrons) are investigated in a pilot single-institution study, exploring the possible design of a multi-institution prospective study comparing the long-term out-of-field and in-field effects of scanned and scattered protons. The results will be used to validate an RBE-based risk model developed by the project, and validate the corresponding RBE values.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Ottolenghi
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy INFN, sezione di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - G Baiocco
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy INFN, sezione di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - V Smyth
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - K Trott
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
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