Beginning of Biological Dosimetry in Costa Rica and its importance in the care of populations overexposed to ionizing radiation.

Introduction. The cytogenetics laboratory of the Health Research Institute (INISA) of the University of Costa Rica established a Biological Dosimetry Service in January 2020 using cytogenetic biomarkers of exposure to ionizing radiation. It is the first of its kind in the Central American region. Objective: establish a biological dosimetry service for Costa Rica, developing a dose-effect calibration curve for gamma rays. Methodology: to carry out the calibration curve, peripheral blood samples from two volunteers, one female and the other male, were irradiated in vitro with gamma rays, at 11 dose points in the range of 0 to 5 Gy. Blood was cultured according to international protocols for 48 hours and induced aberrations were recorded. The Dose Estimate V5.2 and R version 4.03 programs were used to calculate the coefficients of the calibration curve that correlates the frequency of dicentric chromosomes with the dose. Results: the coefficients of the curve are α: 0.02737 ± 0.00658, ß: 0.05938 ± 0.00450 and C: 0.00129 ± 0.00084. These coefficients have values similar to those reported internationally. The curve was validated by calculating two unknown doses, in the first unknown case the delivered dose was 1.5 Gy and the estimated dose was 1.47 Gy and in the second case the delivered dose was 4 Gy and the estimated dose was 3.616 Gy. for both cases there are no statistically significant differences between the delivered and estimated doses. Conclusions: the Biological Dosimetry Service of the INISA can estimate absorbed dose in persons suspected of overexposure to gamma rays in occupationally exposed personnel or persons involved in a radiological accident.