Studies of UV-cured CR-39 recording properties in view of its applicability in radiobiological experiments with alpha particles
Gaillard S., Ross CJ., Armbruster V., Hill MA., Stevens DL., Gharbi T., Fromm M.
In radiobiology, low doses of high-LET radiation correspond to a few particle traversals through the cell population. Therefore, for studies on cell monolayers irradiated with a low dose of α-particles, it is extremely useful if the number and position of particle traversals can be determined. In this study we describe a new method, based on UV-curing, to obtain a 10μm thick CR-39 grafted onto a 2.5μm thick PolyEthylene Terephtalate (PET). This thin double polymeric layer, used as a dish base, has a regular and reproducible detector thickness which can be traversed by 3.5 MeV α-particles, with a sufficient residual energy to traverse mammalian cells attached to the base. The recording properties of a PET-CR-39 dish, together with a demonstration of its use for radiobiological experiments, are presented. This new tool allows the precise determination of single-track impact parameters at a sub-cellular level. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.