Modeling of radiation-induced bystander effect using Monte Carlo methods

Experiments showed that the radiation-induced bystander effect exists in cells, or tissues, or even biological organisms when irradiated with energetic ions or X-rays. In this paper, a Monte Carlo model is developed to study the mechanisms of bystander effect under the cells sparsely populated conditions. This model, based on our previous experiment which made the cells sparsely located in a round dish, focuses mainly on the spatial characteristics. The simulation results successfully reach the agreement with the experimental data. Moreover, other bystander effect experiment is also computed by this model and finally the model succeeds in predicting the results. The comparison of simulations with the experimental results indicates the feasibility of the model and the validity of some vital mechanisms assumed.