title: Microdosimetry of plutonium in lungs.
abstract: Chord length distributions for alveolar cells and cell nuclei were determined by superimposing computer-generated alpha-particle tracks on magnified images of randomly selected rat lung sections using the Quantitative Television Microscope. Specific energy distributions were then calculated by applying image analysis techniques. These microdosimetric calculations suggest that radiation carcinogenesis can be described in physical terms by the number of cells hit in a defined tissue volume, the specific energy distribution in these cells, the resulting number of non-lethally damaged cells which are susceptible to transformation, and their spatial distribution. If multicellular effects are involved in radiation carcinogenesis, then hot spots might be more carcinogenic than the uniform distribution at low doses and less carcinogenic at high doses.
mesh_terms: D000512:Alpha Particles; D000818:Animals; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004735:Energy Transfer; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000032:analysis*; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011005:Plutonium / Q000032:analysis*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013269:Stochastic Processes
chemical_list: D011005:Plutonium