Radiation dosimetry in cell biology: comparison of calculated and measured absorbed dose for a range of culture vessels and clinical beam qualities

Abstract

Purpose: Cell culture studies are frequently used to evaluate the effects of cancer treatments such as radiotherapy, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, nanoparticle enhancement, and to determine any synergies between the treatments. To achieve valid results, the absorbed dose of each therapy needs to be well known and controlled. In this study, we aim to determine the uncertainty associated with radiation exposure in different experimental conditions.

Materials and methods: We have performed an in-depth evaluation of the absorbed dose and dose distribution that would be delivered to a cell sample when cultivated in a number of the more popular designs of culture vessels. We focus on exposure to two beam types: a kilovoltage x-ray beam and a megavoltage photon beam, both of which are routinely used to treat cancer patients in the clinical environment.

Conclusions: Our results identify large variations of up to 16% in the absorbed dose across multi-well culture plates, which if ignored in radiobiological experiments, have the potential to lead to erroneous conclusions.

Keywords:

• 2D cell culture
• radiation
• dosimetry
• radiation physics

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Claridge Mackonis gained a Masters of Medical Physics from the University of Sydney. As a Senior Medical Physicist at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, she has published on radiation biology and medical physics aspects of radiation oncology.

Lauren Hammond is a Radiation Therapist at the Illawarra Cancer Care Centre, who previously worked at The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse. She is a Stereotactic specialist with vast experience and has been involved in research and implementation projects as well as protocol development.

Ana Esteves has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Lisbon (Portugal). Her research spans across the three major threats to human health: HIV infection, bacterial contamination and cancer.

Natalka Suchowerska is an associate professor at the University of Sydney and Head of Medical Physics Research at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse. Her research focused on radiobiology and novel types of radiation dosimetry.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge funding from the Sydney Breast Cancer Foundation in support of this research.