Sensitive yield measurement of OH in water radiolysis at the Bragg peak of high; Energy heavy-ions with CCA as a fluorescent probe

Maeyama, Takuya*; Yamashita, Shinichi; Baldacchino, G.*; Katsumura, Yosuke; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Kimura, Atsushi; Muroya, Yusa*; Murakami, Takeshi*

Detailed mechanism in which effectiveness of heavy ions in cancer therapy are derived from is not known well. It is inevitably important to examine water radiolysis with high-energy heavy ions because water is main component of human body. Among several water decomposition products, OH is known to be most responsible for radiation induced cell death in indirect actions. OH yield has been reported for heavy-ion irradiations in several works employing absorption analyses. With increasing LET, OH yield decreases monotonically (at least up to several hundred eV per nm). Then, more sensitive way to determine OH yield is preferable for higher LET region. In this work, a fluorescent probe, coumarin-3-carboxylic acid, was applied for OH-yield determination as a sensitive way of quantification of OH radical production. Especially, OH yield near the Bragg peaks was discussed.