Experimental validation in a neutron exposure frame of the MINAS TIRITH for cell damage simulation

Abstract

In the domains of medicine and space exploration, refining risk assessment models for protecting healthy tissue from ionizing radiation is crucial. Understanding radiation-induced effects requires biological experimentations at the cellular population level and the cellular scale modeling using Monte Carlo track structure codes.
We present MINAS TIRITH, a tool using Geant4-DNA Monte Carlo-generated databases to study DNA damage distribution at the cell population scale. It introduces a DNA damage location module and proposes a method to convert Double-Strand Breaks (DSB) into DNA Damage Response foci. We evaluate damage location precision and DSB-foci conversion parameters.
MINAS TIRITH’s accuracy is validated against γ-H2AX foci distribution from cell population exposed to monoenergetic neutron beams (2.5 or 15.1 MeV) under different configurations, yielding mixed radiation fields. Strong agreement between simulation and experimental results was found demonstrating MINAS TIRITH's predictive precision in radiation-induced DNA damage topology.
Additionally, modeling intercellular damage variability within a population subjected to a specific macroscopic dose identifies subpopulations, enhancing realistic fate models. This approach advances our understanding of radiation-induced effects on cellular systems for risk assessment improvement.