title: Track structure and the calculation of biological effects of heavy charged particles.
abstract: A new approach for the calculation of biological effects of heavy charged particles is discussed.  In contrast to other models, the biological effect is determined locally as a function of the local dose deposited by the charged particle tracks.  Based on measurable quantities like the X-ray survival curve, the radial dose profile within a track and a geometrical description of the cell nucleus, the model is able to predict several high LET specific properties of charge particle beams, like:  (1) the relationship of inactivation cross sections vs. LET and vs. specific energy; (2) the RBE as a function of energy and atomic number of the particles, including the Z-dependent shift of RBE-maxima from 30 keV/micrometer for protons to 300 keV/micrometer for carbon ions; (3) the transition from exponential to shouldered survival curves, depending on the size of the biological object and the corresponding particle fluences.
authors.affiliation: GSI, Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scholz
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kraft
mesh_terms: D000512:Alpha Particles; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival; D006224:Cricetinae; D018499:Linear Energy Transfer; D008954:Models, Biological; D011522:Protons; D011853:Radiobiology / Q000379:methods*; D011874:Radiometry; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D011522:Protons