title: Radiation damage to neuronal cells: Simulating the energy deposition and water radiolysis in a small neural network.
abstract: Radiation damage to the central nervous system (CNS) has been an on-going challenge for the last decades primarily due to the issues of brain radiotherapy and radiation protection for astronauts during space travel. Although recent findings revealed a number of molecular mechanisms associated with radiation-induced impairments in behaviour and cognition, some uncertainties exist in the initial neuronal cell injury leading to the further development of CNS malfunction. The present study is focused on the investigation of early biological damage induced by ionizing radiations in a sample neural network by means of modelling physico-chemical processes occurring in the medium after exposure. For this purpose, the stochastic simulation of incident particle tracks and water radiation chemistry was performed in realistic neuron phantoms constructed using experimental data on cell morphology. The applied simulation technique is based on using Monte-Carlo processes of the Geant4-DNA toolkit. The calculations were made for proton,12C, and56Fe particles of different energy within a relatively wide range of linear energy transfer values from a few to hundreds of keV/μm. The results indicate that the neuron morphology is an important factor determining the accumulation of microscopic radiation dose and water radiolysis products in neurons. The estimation of the radiolytic yields in neuronal cells suggests that the observed enhancement in the levels of reactive oxygen species may potentially lead to oxidative damage to neuronal components disrupting the normal communication between cells of the neural network.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Radiation Biology, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 6 Joliot-Curie St., 141980 Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia. Electronic address: dem@jinr.ru.
authors.forename: Oleg V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Belov
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Radiation Biology, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 6 Joliot-Curie St., 141980 Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia.
authors.forename: Munkhbaatar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Batmunkh
authors.affiliation: Univ. Bordeaux, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France; CNRS, IN2P3, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Incerti
authors.affiliation: Natural Science Division, National University of Mongolia, 1 University St., 210646 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
authors.forename: Oidov
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lkhagva
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D002244:Carbon / Q000009:adverse effects; D007501:Iron / Q000009:adverse effects; D018499:Linear Energy Transfer / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000166:cytology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D002244:Carbon; D007501:Iron
keywords: Central nervous system; Geant4-DNA; Neural networks; Radiation damage