NASA Radiation Track Image GUI for Assessing Space Radiation Biological Effects

摘要

The high-charge high-energy (HZE) ion components of the galactic cosmic rays when compared to terrestrial forms of radiations present unique challenges to biological systems. In this paper we present a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) breakage model to visualize and analyze the impact of chromatin domains and DNA loops on clustering of DNA damage from X rays, protons, and HZE ions. Our model of DNA breakage is based on a stochastic process of DNA double-strand break (DSB) formulation that includes the amorphous model of the radiation track and a polymer model of DNA packed in the cell nucleus. Our model is a Monte-Carlo simulation based on a randomly located DSB cluster formulation that accomodates both high- and low-linear energy transfer radiations. We demonstrate that HZE ions have a strong impact on DSB clustering, both along the chromosome length and in the nucleus volume. The effects of chromosomal domains and DNA loops on the DSB fragment-size distribution and the spatial distribution of DSB in the nucleus were studied. We compare our model predictions with the spatial distribution of DSB obtained from experiments. The implications of our model predictions for radiation protection are discussed.