DNA damage in non-proliferating cells subjected to ionizing irradiation at high or low dose rates (Q1802941)

Ionising radiation damage to the genome of a noncycling mammalian cell is analysed using continuous time Markov chains. Immediate damage induced by the radiation is modelled as a batch Poisson arrival process of DNA double strand breaks (DSB). The DSB's can subsequently either undergo enzymatically mediated repair or can participate pairwise in chromosome exchanges. The Kolmogorov equations are used to formulate pde's for generating functions of the process. If the exchange rate constant is zero, these pde's can be solved. A perturbation calculation is made assuming the exchange rate constant is small compared to the repair rate constant. Applications to experimental results on statistical distributions of DNA lesions are briefly outlined.