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Microirradiation of cells with energetic heavy ions

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Abstract

The ion microprobe SNAKE at the Munich 14 MV tandem accelerator achieves beam focussing by a superconducting quadrupole doublet and can make use of a broad range of ions and ion energies, from 20 MeV protons to 200 MeV gold ions. Because of these properties, SNAKE is particularly attractive for biological microbeam experiments. Here we describe the adaptation of SNAKE for microirradiation of cell samples. This includes enlarging of the focal distance in order to adjust the focal plane to the specimen stage of a microscope, construction of a beam exit window in a flexible nozzle and of a suitable cell containment, as well as development of procedures for on-line focussing of the beam, preparation of single ions and scanning by electrostatic deflection of the beam. When irradiating with single 100 MeV 16O ions, the adapted set-up permits an irradiation accuracy of 0.91 µm (full width at half maximum) in the x-direction and 1.60 µm in the y-direction, as demonstrated by retrospective track etching of polycarbonate foils. Accumulation of the repair protein Rad51, as detected by immunofluorescence, was used as a biological track detector after irradiation of HeLa cells with geometric patterns of counted ions. Observed patterns of fluorescence foci agreed reasonably well with irradiation patterns, indicating successful adaptation of SNAKE. In spite of single ion irradiation, we frequently observed split fluorescence foci which might be explained by small-scale chromatin movements.

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Acknowledgements

The contributions of A.A. Friedl and G. Dollinger are considered equal. This work has been supported by Maier Leibnitz Laboratorium of the TU Munich and the University of Munich. We thank the technical staff of the Munich tandem accelerator, and Christine Trautmann for providing the nuclear track detectors. We also thank Friederike Eckardt-Schupp, Volker Hable, Robert Mayer and Hartmut Roos for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department E12, Technische Universität München, 85748 , Garching, Germany

    A. Hauptner, P. Reichart, R. Krücken & G. Dollinger

  2. Department Biologie II, Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität München, Richard-Wagner-Strasse 10/I, 80333, München, Germany

    S. Dietzel & T. Cremer

  3. Strahlenbiologisches Institut, Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität München, Schillerstrasse 42, 80336 , München, Germany

    G. A. Drexler & A. A. Friedl

  4. Institut für Molekulare Strahlenbiologie, GSF-Forschungszentrum, 85764 , Neuherberg, Germany

    G. A. Drexler & A. A. Friedl

Authors
  1. A. Hauptner
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  2. S. Dietzel
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  3. G. A. Drexler
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  4. P. Reichart
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  5. R. Krücken
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  6. T. Cremer
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  7. A. A. Friedl
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  8. G. Dollinger
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Correspondence to G. Dollinger.

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Hauptner, A., Dietzel, S., Drexler, G.A. et al. Microirradiation of cells with energetic heavy ions. Radiat Environ Biophys 42, 237–245 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-003-0222-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-003-0222-7

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