O2 and glutathione effects on water radiolysis: a simulation study

We present a MC simulation of water radiolysis when O-2 and glutathione are present in the solution. Our simulation is based on the continuum approximation proposed by Green and co-workers'. We investigate in particular the sensitivity of the yield of HO2 center dot+O-2(-center dot) to the concentration of O-2 and glutathione and to the LET of the ionising radiation. We demonstrate that the production of HO2 center dot/O-2(-center dot) is highly sensitive to these parameters and that the variation of their yield with the O-2 concentration shares remarkable similarities with the O-2 effect reported for biological cell damage efficiency