S-values in target and adjacent cells with idealized spherical models using monoenergetic electron sources

Abstract

Auger electron (AE) emitters are continuously being studied due to AEs having low energies that correspond to electron ranges in the micron scale while also being produced in cascade for each decay. In vitro studies have been limited only to the efficacy of AE-emitters in terms of cell death and vector delivery mechanisms, while computational methods have mainly focused on measuring dose in single-cell models for prominent radionuclides. This study aimed to investigate energy deposition in a two-cell cluster with the nucleus and membrane serving as possible regions of activity localization. The findings show that the membrane can receive a high dose while contributing only a small amount to the total cellular volume. Additionally, cross-dose to an adjacent cell does not vary significantly between the two source regions. Ratios between the self-dose and cross dose have been found to peak at certain energies for the specific cell geometry used in this study.