Calculation of Radiation-induced DNA Damage Efficiency. Analysis of Uncertainties

Abstract

Computer simulations of the DNA damage are widely used due to their large application area. The computational methods to predict DNA breaks are based on molecular concepts about the formation of breaks, the geometric structure of DNA, as well as information about the distribution of absorbed energy in a DNA mo-lecule. Since the calculations use different postulates and algorithms, it is often difficult to make intercompa-rison between theoretical results in the literature. Due to the spread of experimental data on DNA breaks, the determination of parameters of DNA lesion models from the data is not straightforward. In this paper, a comparative analysis of two basic models of DNA structure, molecular and enlarged subvolume, various schemes for the formation of single- and double-strand DNA breaks, as well as different classifications of the break complexity after irradiation with protons and α-particles is performed. Numerical results on initial radiation-induced DNA damage due to direct and quasi-direct action demonstrate the dependence on variation of model parameters. The parameter values where the two models agree or differ are discussed.