Applied Radiation and Isotopes 160 (2020) 109137

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Applied Radiation and Isotopes

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/apradiso

Effective atomic number and electron density of some biologically

important lipids for electron, proton, alpha particle and photon interactions
Srilakshmi Prabhu , A.C. Sneha , Pooja P. Shetty , Arundati A. Narkar , S.G. Bubbly *, S.
B. Gudennavar
Department of Physics and Electronics, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore Central Campus, Bengaluru, 560029, Karnataka, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: X-ray, γ-ray and charged particle interaction parameters of biomolecules are useful in medical diagnosis and
Lipids radiation therapy as exposure to radiations can cause energy of photons and charged particles to be deposited in
Effective atomic number body through various interaction processes. With this in view, the effective atomic number (Zeff) and electron
Electron density
density (Neff) of some biologically important lipids for X-ray, γ-ray and charged particle interactions were studied
Electrons
Protons
in the energy range 10 keV–500 MeV using logarithmic interpolation method. A non-monotonic variation in Zeff
Alpha particles values was observed for protons and alpha particles in low and intermediate energy regions respectively whereas
Photons a sudden increase in Zeff was observed for electron interaction in higher energy region. Zeff values were maximum
in higher energy region for total electron interactions whereas maximum values of Zeff for total alpha particle
interactions were at relatively lower energies. Highest Zeff values were found at lower energy region of photo­
electric absorption dominance for photon interactions. Variation in Neff seems to be similar to variation in Zeff as
they are inter-related.

1. Introduction The adaptive and wide-range response of the lipids to radiations has
led to efforts in understanding the radiation induced effects on indi­
Lipids play diverse and widespread biological roles like providing vidual components of the biological system as well as localised effects in
energy, forming cell membranes and producing hormones in human specific target molecules. Human beings may be exposed to different
body. Any disruption in lipid metabolic enzymes, pathway or transport kinds of radiations (X-ray, γ-ray, α, β particles and protons) ranging from
induces genetic and neurodegenerative disorders in living beings. low-doses generated for medical diagnostic and therapeutic purposes to
Ionizing radiations (Charged particle, X-ray and γ-ray) which are high doses of radiations used for radiotherapy and those generated by
detrimental to these lipids result in lipid peroxidation, leading to an nuclear disasters. But, equal doses of these radiations have differential
increase in membrane permeability, disruption of ion gradients and effects depending on nature of source and biological properties of target.
other transmembrane processes, and altered activity of membrane- Electron beam therapy (EBT) is being used for treatment of superficial
associated proteins (Reisz et al., 2014). However, studies on molecular tumours (such as skin cancer, melanoma and lymphoma of limbs) where
mechanisms in radiation exposed tissues reveal that many biomolecules the target extends only up to patients skin unlike photon beam therapy
are chemo-selectively modified by these radiations. For instance, which is likely to damage surrounding healthy tissues owing to its high
cholesterol being major lipid component of membrane microdomains penetration power. With high linear energy transfer (LET) and relative
prevents radiation induced oxidative damage by impairing the mobility biological effectiveness (RBE), use of heavy ions in therapy is advanta­
of reactive free radicals (Pandey and Mishra, 1999). Supplementation of geous over electrons and photons. In particular, hadron therapy which
β-Carotene, a major source of retinol, proved useful in free radical mainly uses protons of energy 11–220 MeV with the penetration depth 1
quenching and in-vivo lipophilic radioprotection during the Chernobyl mm - 30 cm (Newhauser and Zhang, 2015) and 12C ions of energy
nuclear disaster (Ben-Amotz et al., 1998). While some of the lipids like 80–430 MeV/u (Schardt, 2007) is a new frontier in radiation therapy.
fat-soluble vitamin phylloquinone (Knapp and Tappel, 1961) are least Owing to the ballistic advantage of limited diffusion range in tissues and
sensitive to irradiations, others are severely affected. maximum energy deposition at the end of ion penetration track,

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (S.G. Bubbly).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109137
Received 5 September 2019; Received in revised form 11 January 2020; Accepted 17 March 2020
Available online 20 March 2020
0969-8043/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Prabhu et al. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 160 (2020) 109137

Table 1 sodium and water retention in body (Mcllwraith, 2016). Phylloquinone

Elemental weight fraction of lipids. is the major dietary form of vitamin K, mainly required for blood
Lipid Chemical formula Elemental weight fraction (wt %) coagulation and bone metabolism (Gorska, 2019).
C H O
2.2. Computation of interaction parameters
Cholesterol C27H46O 0.8387 0.1199 0.0414
Retinol C20H30O 0.8386 0.1056 0.0559
Progesterone C21H30O2 0.8021 0.0962 0.1018
2.2.1. Zeff and Neff for photons
Cortisone C21H28O5 0.6998 0.0783 0.2219 Computation of radiation interaction parameters for compounds and
Phylloquinone C31H46O2 0.8261 0.1029 0.0710 mixtures in diverse applications requires their atomic number. In such
cases, an effective or average atomic number (Zeff) is defined assuming
that the compound or mixture is made up of one kind of particle called
appropriate energy of hadrons can be utilised to treat only tumours
atoms. Zeff is equivalent to the atomic number contributed by multi-
sparing deeply located healthy tissues. Yet another approach is targeted
elementals present in a material. Direct method, ratio method (ratio of
alpha therapy (TAT), which uses short range (40–90 μm) alpha particles
effective cross-section/atom to effective cross-section/electron), loga­
of energy 4–9 MeV providing more specific tumour killing ability than in
rithmic interpolation method, power law method, or software like Auto-
EBT (Huang et al., 2012). In any case, the treatment through charged
Zeff and XMuDat computer program are in use to compute Zeff. In the
particle irradiation has attracted attention as it results in painless or
present study, logarithmic interpolation method (eqn. (1)) has been
surgery free treatment (GHMC, 2009).
employed for the computation of Zeff of the lipids.
Whatever be the kind of radiation employed for treatment, it follows
� �
from the above information that examination of radiation effects on Z1 log σ2 log σlipid þ Z2 log σlipid log σ1
Zeff ¼ (1)
human tissues is vital for protecting surrounding healthy tissues against log σ2 log σ1
damage. Such radiation response can be characterized in terms of some
important radiation interaction parameters such as photon mass atten­ where, σ1 and σ2 are the total interaction cross-sections per atom (b/
uation coefficients and charged particle mass stopping powers, effective atom) of elements present in lipids with atomic numbers Z1 and Z2
atomic number (Zeff) and effective electron density (Neff). In particular, respectively at given energy, which can be obtained using WinXCom
Zeff and Neff are exclusively used to characterize different types of ma­ program (Gerward et al., 2004). σlipid, the total interaction cross-section
terials by differentiating them properly in continuous energy region per molecule (b/molecule) of lipid with effective atomic number Zeff,
based on interaction probability (Hine, 1952) and hence are useful in which lies in between σ1 and σ2, is given by
shielding and dosimetric applications. Any deviation of these physical
ðμ=ρÞlipid
parameters by 15–20% from their normal values could be useful for σlipid ¼ ​ P (2)
NA i ðwi =Ai Þ
early detection of tumours and diseases (Grinyov et al., 2007). More
importantly, such clear distinction between biological materials with
where, NA is Avogadro number (6.0221409 � 1023 atoms/g), Ai and
each other will not only yield precise diagnostic results but also be useful
wi ​ ¼ Pni AAi n are the atomic weight and weight fraction of ith element of
for prior radiation dose estimation. While Zeff is an energy dependent i i i

parameter describing the multi-elemental material in terms of equiva­ lipid respectively, and ni is the number of atoms of ith element. ðμ=ρÞlipid
lent elements differentiating different materials, Neff gives conclusive (in cm2/g) is the mass attenuation coefficient of lipid at an energy of
information regarding scattering of the radiation through the medium. interest, which can be obtained using WinXCom program. These
There is substantial literature devoted to the computation of Zeff and ðμ=ρÞlipid values have been used to compute total interaction cross-
Neff of essential biomolecules for photon and charged particle in­ section and hence Zeff of the lipids at various energies in the energy
teractions (Parthasaradhi et al., 1989; Prasad et al., 1997; Man­ range 0.010–500 MeV.
junathaguru and Umesh, 2006; Demir et al., 2012; Kurudirek, 2014a, Effective electron density (Neff) is a measure of number of electrons
2014b; 2014c; Kurudirek and Onaran, 2015; Kurudirek et al., 2015; per unit mass of the interacting medium. We have computed Neff
Buyukyildiz and Kurudirek, 2018). However, no study is available on (electrons/g) of given lipid in the energy range 0.010–500 MeV using
the computation of Zeff and Neff for some essential lipids in human body, eqn. (3),
which prompted us to carry out this work. In the present study, Zeff and
Neff of some important lipids have been calculated for total electron, Neff ¼ NA
Zeff
(3)
proton, alpha particle and photon interaction using logarithmic inter­ Aavg
polation method in the energy range of 10 keV–500 MeV. The lipids P
ni ​ Ai
selected for the present study are cholesterol, retinol, progesterone, where, Aavg ¼ i n , is the average atomic mass of the material and
cortisone and phylloquinone (vitamin K1) which play multiple biolog­ P
n ¼ ni is the total number of atoms of all kinds in the molecule.
ical roles in cell biology, physiology and pathology. i

2. Materials and methods 2.2.2. Zeff and Neff for charged particles
Electrons: Zeff of the lipids for electron interactions can be calculated
2.1. Materials using mass stopping cross-section (S(E)) of elements and the lipids using
the logarithmic interpolation formula (eqn. (4)),
The elemental composition of the lipids - cholesterol, retinol, pro­ �
Z1 log Sc2 log Sc lipid þ Z2 logSclipid log Sc1
�
gesterone, cortisone and phylloquinone - are given in Table 1. Choles­ Zeff ¼ (4)
log Sc2 log Sc1
terol, a major component of membrane microdomains, plays pivotal role
in foetal and brain development and in transduction of signalling where, Sc1 and Sc2 are the mass stopping cross-sections (MeV cm2
pathways (Ha and Bhagavan, 2011). Retinol is one of the forms of atom 1) of elements of atomic number Z1 and Z2 respectively, between
vitamin A, which gives living organisms the power of vision (Engelking, which the mass stopping cross-section (Sclipid in MeV cm2 molecule 1)
2015). Progesterone is a steroid hormone, important in regulation of of lipid with the atomic number Zeff lies. Sc1 , Sc2 and Sclipid can be ob­
reproductive function characterized by its cerebroprotective effects
tained using the formulae (eqs. (5a) and (5b)),
(Schumacher et al., 2017). Cortisone is among the natural
anti-inflammatory corticosteroids, also having substantial effects on

2
S. Prabhu et al. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 160 (2020) 109137

Table 2
Zeff and Neff ( � 1023 electrons/g) of lipids for total alpha, proton, electron and photon interactions.
Energy (MeV) Total alpha particle interaction

Cholesterol Retinol Progesterone Cortisone Phylloquinone

Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff

0.01 3.40 3.92 3.51 3.76 3.57 3.72

0.05 3.27 3.77 3.38 3.62 3.62 3.69 3.33 3.52 3.59
0.1 3.22 3.71 3.33 3.57 3.50 3.58 3.23 3.40 3.35 3.54
0.5 3.21 3.70 3.36 3.61 3.48 3.53 3.75 3.38 3.40 3.59
1 3.28 3.78 3.50 3.75 3.67 3.73 4.07 3.67 3.54 3.74
5 2.93 3.38 3.11 3.34 3.25 3.30 3.55 3.21 3.15 3.33
10 2.97 3.42 3.14 3.37 3.28 3.33 3.57 3.22 3.18 3.36
50 3.02 3.48 3.19 3.42 3.32 3.37 3.62 3.26 3.23 3.41
100 3.03 3.49 3.20 3.43 3.33 3.38 3.63 3.27 3.24 3.42
500 3.04 3.50 3.21 3.44 3.35 3.40 3.64 3.28 3.25 3.43

Energy (MeV) Total proton interaction

Cholesterol Retinol Progesterone Cortisone Phylloquinone
Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff

0.01 3.15 3.64 3.24 3.47 3.29 3.34 3.42 3.08 3.25 3.43
0.05 3.30 3.81 3.43 3.68 3.53 3.59 3.76 3.39 3.46 3.65
0.1 3.73 4.30 3.97 4.25 4.10 4.16 4.37 3.94 4.01 4.24
0.5 2.94 3.39 3.13 3.35 3.27 3.32 3.60 3.25 3.17 3.34
1 2.93 3.38 3.11 3.34 3.25 3.30 3.55 3.21 3.15 3.33
5 3.00 3.45 3.17 3.40 3.30 3.35 3.59 3.24 3.21 3.38
10 3.02 3.48 3.19 3.42 3.32 3.37 3.61 3.26 3.23 3.40
50 3.04 3.50 3.21 3.44 3.35 3.40 3.64 3.28 3.25 3.43
100 3.04 3.50 3.21 3.44 3.35 3.40 3.64 3.28 3.25 3.43
500 3.04 3.50 3.22 3.45 3.35 3.40 3.65 3.30 3.25 3.44

Energy (MeV) Total electron interaction

Cholesterol Retinol Progesterone Cortisone Phylloquinone

Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff

0.01 2.75 3.17 2.89 3.09 2.97 3.02 3.38 3.05 2.91 3.07
0.05 2.79 3.22 2.93 3.14 3.07 3.12 3.46 3.12 2.95 3.12
0.1 2.81 3.24 2.95 3.16 3.10 3.15 3.48 3.14 2.97 3.13
0.5 2.84 3.27 2.99 3.20 3.17 3.22 3.55 3.21 3.02 3.19
1 2.83 3.26 2.99 3.20 3.16 3.20 3.55 3.20 3.02 3.19
5 2.79 3.22 2.99 3.20 3.16 3.21 3.56 3.21 3.02 3.19
10 2.80 3.22 3.06 3.29 3.24 3.29 3.63 3.28 3.11 3.28
50 3.15 3.63 3.38 3.63 3.56 3.61 3.93 3.54 3.43 3.62
100 3.33 3.83 3.54 3.80 3.71 3.76 4.07 3.68 3.59 3.78
500 3.59 4.14 3.78 4.05 3.93 3.99 4.30 3.88 3.82 4.03

Energy (MeV) Total photon interaction

Cholesterol Retinol Progesterone Cortisone Phylloquinone
Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff Zeff Neff

0.01 4.85 5.59 4.98 5.34 5.15 5.23 5.53 4.99 5.03 5.31
0.05 3.13 3.60 3.34 3.58 3.53 3.58 3.91 3.53 3.39 3.58
0.1 2.96 3.41 3.15 3.38 3.33 3.38 3.68 3.32 3.19 3.37
0.5 2.94 3.38 3.12 3.35 3.29 3.34 3.63 3.27 3.16 3.34
1 2.93 3.38 3.12 3.35 3.29 3.34 3.63 3.27 3.16 3.33
5 3.00 3.45 3.21 3.44 3.38 3.43 3.72 3.35 3.25 3.43
10 3.14 3.61 3.34 3.58 3.51 3.56 3.85 3.47 3.38 3.57
50 3.53 4.06 3.71 3.98 3.87 3.93 4.24 3.82 3.75 3.96
100 3.61 4.16 3.79 4.06 3.94 4.00 4.32 3.90 3.83 4.04
500 3.69 4.26 3.86 4.14 4.02 4.08 4.40 3.97 3.90 4.12

� �
SðEÞ stopping power is sum of collisional and radiative stopping power.
ρ Once Zeff values are calculated using eqn. (4), Neff can be calculated
Sci ¼ i
(5a)
ðNA =Ai Þ for total electron interaction using eqn. (3). The uncertainties in calcu­
lated collision stopping power for electrons above 100 keV are estimated
� �
SðEÞ to be 1–2%, 2–3% (in low-Z materials) and 5–10% (in high-Z materials)
ρ between 100 keV and 10 keV (Berger et al., 1984). The uncertainties of
(5b)
lipid
Sclipid ¼ P the radiative stopping powers above 50 MeV are estimated to be 2%,
NA i ðwi =Ai Þ
2%–5% between 50 MeV and 2 MeV, and 5% below 2 MeV (Berger et al.,
� �
SðEÞ 2005).
where, NA, wi and Ai have their usual meanings, and and
ρ
i
Protons and alpha particles: PSTAR and ASTAR databases (Berger
� �
et al., 2005) have been used to obtain mass stopping powers for protons
SðEÞ
ρ are the mass stopping powers (MeV cm2 g 1) of ith element and alpha particles respectively in the energy range 10 keV–500 MeV.
lipid
and lipid respectively, which can be obtained using the ESTAR database These databases provide mass stopping power for 74 materials including
in the energy region of 10 keV–500 MeV (Berger et al., 2005). The mass 26 elements and 48 compounds and mixtures. However, data for those

3
S. Prabhu et al. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 160 (2020) 109137

Fig. 1. Variation of Zeff with kinetic energy for (a) photon (b) electron, (c) proton and (d) alpha particle interaction.

elements whose stopping powers are not available can be obtained by

Table 3
interpolating the data from adjacent elements, which again justifies the
Comparison of Zeff values for cholesterol with literature values at some selected
need for using logarithmic interpolation method. Firstly, mass stopping
energies in the range145–1173 keV.
power of the lipids for protons and alpha particles are calculated using
Energy Manjunathaguru and Umesh (2006) Present study
the mixture rule
(keV)
� � Matrix Empirical Matrix method Logarithmic
dE X � dE �
¼ ​ wi (6) method formula (XCOM) interpolation
dx:ρ lipid dx:ρ i
i 145.4 2.70 2.70 2.63 2.94
� � 279.2 2.72 2.73 2.83 2.92
dE 514 2.77 2.75 2.94 2.92
where, dx:ρ is the mass stopping power (sum of electronic and nu­ 661.6 2.78 2.76 2.94 2.92
i
1115.5 2.80 2.78 2.89 2.92
clear stopping power) of ith element for proton/alpha particle in a
1173.2 2.76 2.79 2.86 2.92
medium. The S(E) for constituent elements and lipids have been ob­
tained using eqs. (5a) and (5b) respectively. Finally, Zeff have been ob­
tained by interpolation between adjacent elemental and lipid mass that Zeff values of lipids for photons are initially high at 0.015 MeV and
stopping cross-section data using eqn. (4) and consequently, Neff using thereafter the values decrease up to incident photon energy of about 0.1
eqn. (3). The uncertainties of the collisional stopping powers are stated MeV (Fig. 1a). They remain almost constant in the intermediate energy
to be 1–2% for elements, and 1–4% for compounds in high-energy re­ range (0.1–3 MeV) and start increasing slowly with increase in photon
gion. The estimated uncertainties are reported to be 2–5% at 1000 keV, energy beyond 3 MeV. Such variation in Zeff values with incident photon
5–10% at 100 keV, 10–15% at 10 keV, and 20–30% at 1 keV, although, energy is due to the difference in dominance of different photon inter­
estimation is difficult in low energy regime (Berger et al., 1993). For action processes and the dependence of interaction cross-sections on
alpha particles, the uncertainties in nuclear stopping powers are esti­ atomic number and incident photon energy. Therefore, maximum values
mated to be 5–10% at 100 keV, 10% at 10 keV, and 10–20% at 1 keV for Zeff have been observed in lower energy region (<50 keV) of pho­
(Berger et al., 1993). toelectric absorption dominance. The minimum values of Zeff have been
observed in the intermediate energy range (100 keV - 3 MeV) where the
3. Results and discussion Compton scattering process is dominant with cross-section having linear
Z-dependence (Manohara et al., 2008). Zeff values of cholesterol ob­
Zeff and Neff for the chosen lipids for total photon, electron, proton tained in the present study at some selected energies in the range
and alpha interactions have been calculated at various energies 145–1173 keV have been compared with the values obtained by matrix
following the procedure detailed in Section 2 (Table 2). Variation of Zeff method using semi-empirical relation (Manjunathaguru and Umesh,
with kinetic energy of the radiations is shown in Fig. 1. It is observed 2006) (Table 3) and a deviation of 4–9% is observed.

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S. Prabhu et al. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 160 (2020) 109137

Fig. 2. Variation of (a) Zeff and (b) Neff with kinetic energy of charged particles for cholesterol.

For total electron interaction, Zeff values are lowest at lower kinetic dependence than collisional interaction and hence Zeff values increase.
energies and then tend to increase with increase in energy of electrons We observe that for all the lipids, the variations in Zeff values are not
(Fig. 1b). This is because electrons undergo either collisional (ionization significant in the entire energy region so that Zeff can be used in accurate
and excitation) or radiative losses which are partial electron interaction estimation of electron interaction parameters of different materials.
processes and have different weightage in different energy regions. At Heavy charged particles like protons and alpha particles undergo
higher energy, radiative interaction process is dominant with higher Z- coulombic interactions with electrons in atoms of medium Z and lose

Fig. 3. Variation of Zeff with Neff for (a) photon (b) electron, (c) proton and (d) alpha particle interactions.

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S. Prabhu et al. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 160 (2020) 109137

Fig. 4. Variation of Zeff with weight fraction of (a) H and (b) O in lipids for electrons, protons, alpha particles and photons.

their energies mainly via ionization and excitation (negligible radiation Neff as function of energy of charged particles and photon have been
loss) unlike beta particles. The total stopping power of heavy ions is the studied for electron, proton and alpha particle and photon interactions.
sum of electronic (or collisional) and nuclear stopping powers, the Change in Zeff with weight fractions of H and O has been studied.
former getting higher weightage during interaction. This is because Maximum values of Zeff have been observed for electrons in higher en­
nuclear stopping process involves transfer of ion energy to the atoms of ergy regions whereas maximum values for proton and alpha particle
the medium through elastic collisions which become negligible in higher interactions have been seen in intermediate energy region. The lowest
energy region when compared to electronic stopping interaction. value of Zeff has been observed for cholesterol which has highest H
Therefore, the highest values of Zeff for protons and alpha particles have content.
been observed at around 0.1 MeV and 1 MeV respectively as seen in
Fig. 1c and d respectively. Though both protons and alpha particles Declaration of competing interest
interact in similar manner, the maxima occur at different energies
depending on the ions (Montanari et al., 2002) due to interplay of The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
decreasing effective charge, increasing scattering cross-section and interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
decreasing maximum energy transfer (Primetzhofer, 2014). The varia­ the work reported in this paper.
tions in Zeff and Neff values of cholesterol for charged particle in­
teractions are shown in Fig. 2. CRediT authorship contribution statement
As the kinetic energy of charged particle increases, β (¼ v/c) in­
creases. Consequently, the mass stopping power decreases as mass Srilakshmi Prabhu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software,
stopping power varies as 1/β2. For alpha particles and protons, Zeff Data curation, Writing - original draft. A.C. Sneha: Conceptualization,
reaches a constant broad minimum at higher energies. For all the Methodology, Software, Data curation, Writing - original draft. Pooja P.
selected lipids, Zeff has a non-monotonic variation up to 0.1 MeV for Shetty: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Data curation,
protons whereas it has a non-monotonic variation between 100 keV and Writing - original draft. Arundati A. Narkar: Conceptualization,
4 MeV for alpha particles. Beyond 4 MeV, Zeff values are seen to be Methodology, Software, Data curation, Writing - original draft. S.G.
constant and more or less same for protons and alpha particles. Due to Bubbly: Supervision, Validation, Writing - review & editing. S.B.
large variations in Zeff values with kinetic energy between few hundred Gudennavar: Supervision, Validation, Writing - review & editing.
keV to few MeV, it is not suitable to use these values for differentiating
materials. Difference in regions of non-monotonic variations in Zeff
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