Electron transport in DNA bases: An extension of the Geant4-DNA Monte Carlo toolkit

TL;DR

This paper extends the Geant4-DNA Monte Carlo toolkit to include electron interactions with DNA bases, enabling more accurate simulations of radiation effects on DNA by incorporating specific cross sections and relativistic electron capabilities.

Contribution

The work introduces a new extension to Geant4-DNA that models electron interactions with DNA bases, including relativistic electrons, improving biological radiation damage simulations.

Findings

Cross sections agree with literature data for all DNA bases.

Simulation results match other studies for high-energy electrons.

Differences at low energies highlight the importance of accurate models.

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to extend the Geant4-DNA Monte Carlo toolkit to include electron interactions with the four DNA bases using a set of cross sections recently implemented in Geant-DNA CPA100 models and available for liquid water. Electron interaction cross sections for elastic scattering, ionisation, and electronic excitation were calculated in the four DNA bases adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. The electron energy range is extended to include relativistic electrons. Elastic scattering cross sections were calculated using the independent atom model with amplitude derived from ELSEPA code. Relativistic Binary Encounter Bethe Vriens model was used to calculate ionisation cross sections. The electronic excitation cross sections calculations were based on the water cross sections following the same strategy used in CPA100 code. These were implemented within the Geant4-DNA option6 physics constructor to extend its capability of tracking electrons in DNA material in addition to liquid water. Since DNA nucleobases have different molecular structure than water it is important to perform more accurate simulations especially because DNA is considered the most radiosensitive structure in cells. Differential and integrated cross sections calculations were in good agreement with data from the literature for all DNA bases. Stopping power, range and inelastic mean free path calculations in the four DNA bases using this new extension of Geant4-DNA option6 are in good agreement with calculations done by other studies, especially for high energy electrons. Some deviations are shown at the low electron energy range, which could be attributed to the different interaction models. Comparison with water simulations shows obvious difference which emphasizes the need to include DNA bases cross sections in track structure codes for better estimation of radiation effects on biological material.