Conjecture on the role of dry charges in radiosensitization.

A model of cellular radiation damage that involves dry electrons and holes is proposed and the implications of this model to hypoxic radiosenstization are discussed. The transport and reaction properties of dry charges in the structured water surrounding polar biomolecules are considered and a solvation time of 600 picoseconds in this medium is derived. Pre-solvation charge migration, attachment and recombination and the relevance of these processes to sensitization are discussed. DNA damage by physico-chemical interactions with dry holes is proposed and is shown to be modified by oxygen and other electron affinic sensitizers.