Towards establishing capacity for biological dosimetry at Ghana atomic energy commission

Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY : The aim of this study was not only to obtain basic technical prerequisites for the establishment of capacity of biological dosimetry at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) but also to stimulate interest in biological dosimetry research in Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa. Peripheral blood from four healthy donors was exposed to different doses (0–6 Gy) of gamma rays from a radiotherapy machine and lymphocytes were subsequently stimulated, cultured, and processed according to standard protocols for 48–50 h. Processed cells were analyzed for the frequencies of dicentric and centric ring chromosomes. Radiation dose delivered to the experimental model was verified using GafChromic® EBT films in parallel experiments. Basic technical prerequisites for the establishment of capacity of biological dosimetry in the GAEC have been realized and expertise in the dicentric chromosome assay consolidated. We successfully obtained preliminary cytogenetic data for a dose-response relationship of the irradiated blood lymphocytes. The data strongly indicate the existence of significant linear (α) and quadratic (β) components and are consistent with those published for the production of chromosome aberrations in comparable absorbed dose ranges.
Description
CITATION: Achel, Daniel G., et al. 2016. Towards establishing capacity for biological dosimetry at Ghana atomic energy commission. Genome Integrity, 7(1):1-5, doi:10.4103/2041-9414.197173.
The original publication is available at http://www.genome-integrity.org
Keywords
Radiation dosimetry -- Research – Ghana, Radiation -- Measurement -- Ghana, Radiation -- Dose-response relationship, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Human chromosome abnormalities -- Ghana
Citation
Achel, Daniel G., et al. 2016. Towards establishing capacity for biological dosimetry at Ghana atomic energy commission. Genome Integrity, 7(1):1-5, doi:10.4103/2041-9414.197173