The Effect of Low and Medium Doses of Proton Pencil Scanning Beam on the Blood-Forming Organs during Total Irradiation of Mice

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the effect of proton pencil beam scanning in the Bragg peak in the dose range of 0.1-1.5 Gy on the induction of cytogenetic damage in the bone marrow, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in whole blood, and the state of lymphoid organs after total body irradiation of mice. Irradiation was carried out in the Prometeus proton synchrotron (Protvino) in the Bragg peak with proton energy at the output of 90-116 MeV. It was found that, under irradiation of mice in the range of low and medium doses of proton pencil beam scanning in the Bragg peak, the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) according to the criterion of cytogenetic changes was 1.15. In addition, it was found that the pathophysiological effect on the lymphoid organs and the production of ROS by blood cells were different as compared with the effect of X-rays.

Keywords: ROS; mice; micronucleus test; pencil beam scanning; proton; spleen; thymus.