SURVIVAL OF ALPHA-PARTICLE IRRADIATED-CELLS AS A FUNCTION OF THE SHAPE AND SIZE OF THE SENSITIVE VOLUME (NUCLEUS)

Microdosimetry is the study of the stochastic variation of energy depo sited within sub-cellular targets. As such, the size and shape of the critical target (i.e. cell nucleus) are essential when considering mic rodosimetric quantities. In this work, a microdosimetric analysis exam ines the expected cell survival as a function of the size and shape of the cell nucleus under conditions of irradiation by radionuclides emi tting alpha particles. The results indicate that, in general, cell sur vival is relatively insensitive to changes in the shape of the cell nu cleus when the volume is held constant. However, cell survival is a st rong function of the variation in the size of the target. These result s are useful when analysing the results of cell survival experiments f or alpha particle emitters.