An ESR study on biological dosimeters: Human hair

In the present work, characteristic features of the radicals found in untreated, gamma and UV-irradiated and mechanical damaged human hair samples were investigated by ESR spectroscopy. Heights of the resonance peaks measured with respect to the spectrum base line were used to monitor microwave power, dose-response, storage time and temperature dependent kinetic features of the radical species contributing to the formation of recorded experimental ESR spectra. Peak heights and g-values (2.0037-2.0052) determined from recorded spectra of hair were color dependent with ΔHpp-0.47 mT. The act of cutting hair samples gene rates sulfur centered radicals which are found in the a-keratin structure of hair. The variations of the peak heights with temperature were related with the water content found in the hair samples. In the 6-1100 Gy dose range, a linear + quadratic dose-response curve was recorded for hair and the mean radiation yield (Gmean) was calculated to be 0.4. The gamma radiation induced radicals were stable for a several hours at room temperature storage conditions. Based on these findings it was concluded that human hair samples could be used as biological/personnel dosimeters and that ESR spectroscopy could be successfully used as a potential technique for monitoring its dosimetric behaviours.