Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 2, 2026

Characterization of Recombination Effects in a Liquid Ionization Chamber Used for the Dosimetry of a Radiosurgical Accelerator
Published on: May 10, 2014
Combined electron emission effects on the biologically damaging efficiency of 125I
A Grau Carles1, A Grau Malonda
1Departamento de Física Atómica y Molecular Teórica, Instituto de Matemáticas y Física Fundamental, CSIC, Madrid, Spain. agrau@imaff.cfmac.csic.es
Purpose:
One important obstacle in modeling the biological damage of 125I lies in the collective effects of the emitted electrons. The huge number of possible different ways of atomic rearrangement causes a strong variability in the number and energies of the emitted electrons. The aim of this work is to tabulate, separately for each atomic rearrangement pathway, the absorbed doses and the single-strand breaks (SSB) probabilities for different size nanospheres of liquid water.
Methods:
A simple deterministic (non-stochastic) atomic rearrangement model of only 265 pathways is appropriate for modeling the electron-capture and internal conversion processes in 125I. The feasibility of the atomic rearrangement model is verified by comparing the SSB yield for ultrasoft X-ray sources with Lobachevsky's experimental data.
Results:
A linear equation is sufficient for describing the SSB probability as a function of the dose absorbed in a small volume surrounding the labelled nucleotide 125I-dC.
Conclusions:
The application of a deterministic atomic rearrangement model to Auger electron emission spectra gives a new perspective to the study of low linear energy transfer (LET) radiation effects on DNA. The damages induced by point electron-capture (EC) sources and by macroscopic X-ray sources are compared.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Radioactivity
Alpha (α) decay is the emission of an α particle from the nucleus. For example, polonium-210 undergoes α decay:
Biological Effects of Radiation
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Overview
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Interference
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Lab
Bioactivation and Tissue Toxicity

