Scanning Microscopy
Abstract
Determining the biological effects of low doses of radiation with high linear energy transfer (LET) is complicated by the stochastic nature of charged-particle interactions. Populations of cells exposed to very low radiation doses contain a few cells which have been hit by a charged particle, while the majority of the cells receive no radiation damage. At somewhat higher doses, a few cells receive two or more events. Because the effects of damage produced by separate events can interact in the cell, we have had to make assumptions about the nature of these interactions in order to interpret the results of the experiments. Many of those assumptions can be tested if we can be sure of the number of charged-particle events which occur in individual cells, and correlate this number with the biological effect.
We have developed a special irradiation facility at Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) to control the actual number of charged particle tracks that pass through cell nuclei. The beam from a 2 MeV tandem accelerator is collimated to approximately 5 μm. Cells, grown in special dishes with 1.5μm thick plastic bottoms, are positioned so that the desired portion of the cell aligns with the collimator. A shutter in the beam line is opened and closed after the desired number of particle tracks has been counted.
This approach can be used to investigate the effects of the interaction between irradiated and unirradiated cells in an organized system, as well as to study the effects of spatial and temporal distribution of radiation damage within single cells. We expect that this approach will lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms of high LET radiation effects.
Recommended Citation
Braby, L. A.
(1991)
"Microbeam Studies of the Sensitivity of Structures within Living Cells,"
Scanning Microscopy: Vol. 6:
No.
1, Article 13.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/microscopy/vol6/iss1/13