Journal article
The effects of gold nanoparticles concentrations and beam quality/LET on dose enhancement when irradiated with X-rays and protons using alanine/EPR dosimetry
CL Smith, SP Best, F Gagliardi, T Tominaga, M Geso
Radiation Measurements | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2017
Abstract
This research investigates the effects on dose enhancement (DE) caused by secondary electrons when varying concentrations of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are irradiated with different quality beams (proton, kV and MV X-rays) over clinical doses ranges (2–20 Gy). Spherical gold-nanoparticles (5 nm) were added to L-alanine, producing composites of 3, 2 and 1% (w/w) AuNPs, dispersed uniformly within wax pellets of dimensions 10 × 5 × 5 mm. The pellets were irradiated within a phantom alongside control pellets (L-alanine) and the yield of alanine radicals quantified by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Comparison of the EPR signal produced by the AuNP/alanine composites to that o..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at RMIT University for the financial support especially the funding to cover travel between Australia and Japan for access to the proton beam facility. Also, we would like to acknowledge the support for this project by the staff of the Hyogo Ion Beam Centre in Japan, and the Alfred Hospital Radiation Oncology Centre in Australia. We also wish to thank The University of Melbourne, School of Chemistry for the use of the EPR spectrometer and the ARC for funding its purchase. We also thank Mr Robert Brown for help with the making of the wax pellets and allowing us use of the Histology labs, and Mr Neil Brouwer for making the silica moulds.