Abstract
This paper presents a Monte-Carlo study focusing on the effects of gold nanoparticles on the energy deposition patterns produced by incident photons in the close vicinity of the mitochondrial network modeled as a tube. Spherical shaped gold nanoparticles of 30 nm diameter were placed in a micrometric (10 × 10 × 10 μm3) water phantom containing a tube of 300 nm diameter and 5 μm length. The tube represented a mitochondrial fragment and nanoparticles were distributed in the water phantom outside the tube. Photons of 120 keV were simulated using the Geant4 Livermore processes and the Geant4-DNA electron processes to account for secondary electrons collisions. The Livermore processes took into account the Auger cascade inside the gold material. A data mining algorithm was then used to analyze the energy deposition clusters inside the water phantom and the tube. A comparison was made between the results obtained for a uniform distribution of nanoparticles and a vesicle distribution model. The results including energy deposition clusters are also compared to dose enhancement ratios.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 148-154 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Physica Medica |
Volume | 67 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2019 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Z. Francis would like to thank the Research Council of the Saint Joseph University for supporting this study under the projects FS133 and FS-SF1. M. A. Bernal would like to thank the Conselho Nacional para o Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico ( CNPq ), Brazil, for financing his research activities through the project 306775/2015-8 . He also acknowledges the support received from the FAPESP foundation in Brazil, through the 2011/51594-2 , 2015/21873-8 , and 2018/15316-7 projects.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Biophysics
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
- General Physics and Astronomy