Effects of annealing on the photoluminescence of He ion implanted sapphire after 230-MeV Pb ion irradiation

Single crystal sapphire (Al2O3) samples implanted with 110 keV He and irradiated at 320 K by Pb-208(27), ions with energy of 1.1 MeV/u to the fluences ranging from 1 X 10(12) to 5 X 10(14) ion/cm(2) and subsequently annealed at 600, 900 and 1100 K. The obtained PL spectra showed that emission peaks centred at 375, 390, 413, and 450 nm appeared in irradiated samples. The peak of 390 ran became very intense after 600 K annealing. The peak of 390 nm weakened and 510 nm peak started to build up at 900 K annealing, the peak of 390 nm vanished and 510 nm peak increased with the annealing temperature rising to 1100 K. Infrared spectra showed a broadening of the absorption band between 460 cm(-1), and 510 cm(-1) indicating strongly damaged regions being formed in the Al2O3 samples and position shift of the absorption band at 1000-1300 cm(-1) towards higher wavenumber after Pb irradiation.

Adaptive hormetic response of pre-exposure of mouse brain with low-dose C-12(6+) ion or Co-60 gamma-ray on growth hormone (GH) and body weight induced by subsequent high-dose irradiation

The brain of the Kun-Ming strain mice were irradiated with 0.05 Gy of C-12(6+) ion or Co-60 gamma-ray as the pre-exposure dose, and were then irradiated with 2 Gy of 12C6+ ion or Co-60 gamma-ray as challenging irradiation dose at 4 h after per-exposure. Body weight and serum growth hormone (GH) concentration were measured at 35th day after irradiation. The results showed that irradiation of mouse brain with 2 Gy of C-12(6+) ion or Co-60 gamma-ray significantly diminished mouse body weight and level of serum GH. The relative biological effectiveness values of a 2 Gy dose of C-12(6+) ion calculated with respect to Co-60 gamma-ray were 1.47 and 1.34 for body weight and serum GH concentration, respectively. Pre-exposure with a low-dose (0.05 Gy) of C-12(6+) ion or Co-60 gamma-ray significantly alleviated reductions of mouse body weight and level of serum GH induced by a subsequent high-dose (2 Gy) irradiation. The data suggested that low-dose ionizing irradiation can induce adaptive hormetic responses to the harmful effects of pituitary by subsequent high-dose exposure.

Comparison of clonogenic assay with premature chromosome condensation assay in prediction of human cell radiosensitivity

Aim: To determine whether the number of non-rejoining G2-chromatid breaks can predict the radiosensitivity of human cell lines. Methods: Cell lines of human ovary carcinoma cells (HO8910), human hepatoma cells (HepG2) and liver cells (L02) were irradiated with a range of doses and assessed both of cell survival and non-rejoining G2-chromatid breaks at 24 h after irradiation. Cell survival was documented by a colony assay. Non-rejoining G2-chromatid breaks were measured by counting the number of non-rejoining G2 chromatid breaks at 24 h after irradiation, detected by the prematurely chromosome condensed (PCC) technique. Results: A linear-quadratic survival curve was observed in three cell lines, and HepG2 was the most sensitive to gamma-radiation. A dose-dependent linear increase was observed in radiation-induced non-rejoining G2-PCC breaks measured at 24 h after irradiation in all cell lines, and HepG2 was the most susceptible to induction of non-rejoining G2-PCC breaks. A close correlation was found between the clonogenic radiosensitivity and the radiation-induced non-rejoining G2-PCC breaks (r=0.923). Furthermore, survival-aberration correlations for two or more than two doses lever were also significant. Conclusion: The number of non-rejoining G2 PCC breaks holds considerable promise for predicting the radiosensitivity of normal and tumor cells when two or more than two doses lever is tested.

Germ cell loss induced by C-12(6+) ion irradiation in young female mice

The ovaries of Kun-Ming strain mice (3 weeks) were irradiated with different doses of C-12(6+) ion in the Bragg peak or the plateau region. At 10th day after irradiation, ovarian and uterine weights were measured: normal and atretic (identified with the oocyte to be degenerating or absent) primordial, primary and preantral follicles were identified in the largest cross-section of each ovary. Percentage (%) of normal follicles of each developmental stage of oogenesis was calculated. The data showed that compared to controls, there was a dose-related decrease in percentage of normal follicles in each developmental stage. And the weights of ovary and uterus were also reduced with doses of irradiation. Moreover, these effects were much more significant in the Bragg peak region and the region close to the Bragg peak than in the beam's entrance (the plateau region). Radiosensitivity varied in different follicle maturation stages. Primordial follicles, which are thought to be extremely sensitive to ionizing irradiation, were reduced by 86.6%, while primary and preantral follicles reduced only by 72.5% and 61.8% respectively, by exposure with 6 Gy of C-12(6+) ion in the Bragg peak region and the region close to the Bragg peak. The data suggested that due to their optimal depth-dose distribution in the Bragg peak region, heavy ions are ones of the best particles for radiotherapy of tumors located next of vital organs or/and surrounded by normal tissues, especially radiosensitive tissues such as gonads.

Protective effects of melatonin against low- and high-LET irradiation

To investigate the protective effects of melatonin against high-LET ionizing radiation, V79 Chinese hamster cells were irradiated with 100 keV/mu m carbon beam. Parallel experiments were performed with 200 kV X-rays. To avoid the impact from extra solvents, melatonin was dissolved directly in culture medium. Cells were cultured in melatonin medium for 1 hr before irradiation. Cell inactivation was measured with conventional colony forming assay, medium containing 6-thioguanine was used for the selection of mutants at hprt locus, and the cell cycle was monitored by flow cytometry. Both carbon beam and X-rays induced cell inactivation, hprt gene mutation and cell cycle G2 block dose-dependently. But carbon beam showed stronger effects as indicated by all three endpoints and the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) was 3.5 for cell killing (at 10% survival level) and 2.9 for mutation induction (at 5 x 10(-5) mutants/ cell level). Melatonin showed protective effects against ionizing radiation in a dose-dependent manner. In terms of cell killing, melatonin only increased the survival level of those samples exposed to 8Gy or larger of X-rays or 6 Gy or larger of carbon beam. In the induction of hprt mutation and G2 block, melatonin reduced such effects induced by carbon beam but not by X-rays. The results suggest that melatonin reduces the direct interaction of particles with cells rather than an indirect interaction. Further studies are required to disclose the underlying mechanisms.

Survival and initial chromatid breakage in normal and tumour cells exposed in vitro to gamma rays and carbon ions at the HIRFL

Human hepatoma and normal liver cells were irradiated with C-12(6+) ion beams (linear energy transfer (LET) = 96 keV mu m(-1)) and gamma-rays at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). The numbers and types of chromatid breaks were detected using the premature chromosome condensation technique. Irradiation with C-12(6+) ions produced a majority of isochromatid break types, while chromatid breaks were dominant for irradiation with gamma-rays. Experimental results showed that the initial level of chromatid breaks is clearly related to the absorbed dose from C-12(6+), ions and gamma-rays. The (12)C(6+)ions are relatively more effective at inducing initial chromatid breaks when compared with the gamma-rays. A relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of about 2.5 resulted for the induction of initial chromatid breaks by C-12(6+) ions relative to gamma-rays in both cell lines.

Temperature annealing of tracks induced by ion irradiation of graphite

Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) samples were irradiated by Xe ions of initial kinetic energy of 3 MeV/u. The irradiations were performed at temperatures of 500 and 800 K. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images show that the tracks occasionally have elongated structures under high-temperature irradiation. The track creation yield at 800 K is by three orders of magnitude smaller compared to that obtained during room-temperature irradiation. STM and Raman spectra show that amorphization occurs in graphite samples irradiated at 500 K to higher fluences, but not at 800 K. The obtained experimental results clearly reveal that the irradiation under high temperature causes track annealing.

Melting of Au and Al in nanometer Fe/Au and Fe/Al multilayers under swift heavy ions: A thermal spike study

Knowing that Fe is sensitive to swift heavy ion irradiations whereas Au and Al are not, the behavior of nanometric metallic multilayer systems, like [Fe(3 nm)/Au(x)](y) and [Fe(3 nm)/Al(x)](y) with x ranging between 1 and 10 mn, were studied within the inelastic thermal spike model. In addition to the usual cylindrical geometry of energy dissipation perpendicular to the ion projectile direction, the heat transport along the ion path was implemented in the electronic and atomic sub-systems. The simulations were performed using three different values of linear energy transfer corresponding to 3 MeV/u of Pb-208, Xe-132 and Kr-84 ions. For the Fe/Au system, evidence of appearance of a molten phase was found in the entire Au layer, provided the Au thickness is less than 7 nm and 3 nm for Pb and Xe ions, respectively. For the Fe/Al(x) system irradiated with Pb ions, the Al layers with a thickness less than 4 nm melt along the entire ion track. Surprisingly, the Fe layer does not melt if the Al thickness is larger than 2 nm, although the deposited energy surpasses the electronic stopping power threshold of track formation in Fe. For Kr ions melting does not occur in any of the multilayer systems.

Photoluminescence of inert-gas ion implanted sapphire after 230-MeV Pb ion irradiation

In the present work the photoluminescence (PL) character of sapphire implanted with 110-keV He, Ar or Ne ions and subsequently irradiated with 230-MeV Pb was studied. The implantation was performed at 320 and 600 K using fluences from 5.0 x 10(16) to 2.0 x 10(17) ions/cm(2). The Pb ion irradiation was carried out at 320 K. The obtained PL spectra showed peaks at 375, 413 and 450 nm with maximum intensity at an implantation fluence of 5.0 x 10(16) ions/cm(2) and a new peak at 390 nm appeared in the He-implanted and subsequently Pb-irradiated samples. Infrared spectra showed a broadening of the absorption band between 460 and 510 nm indicating strongly damaged regions formed in the Al2O3 samples. A possible PL mechanism is discussed.

The hyper-radiosensitivity effect of human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cells exposed to low dose gamma-rays and C-12 ions

Hypersensitive response of mammalian cells in cell killing to X- and gamma-rays has been reported at doses below 1 Gy. The purpose of this study was to examine the low dose sensitivity of human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cells irradiated with Co-60 gamma-rays and 50 MeV/u C-12 ions. Experiments using gamma-rays and charged particle irradiation were performed, particularly in the low dose range from 0 to 2 Gy. The survival effect of SMMC-7721 cells was measured by means of standard clonogenic assay in conjunction with a cell sorter. The result indicates SMMC-7721 cells showed hyper-radiosensitive response at low doses and increased radio-resistance at larger single doses for the carbon ions (LET = 45.2 keV/mu m) and the gamma-rays. However, the HRS/IRR effect caused by high-LET irradiation is different from that by low-LET radiation. This might possibly be due to the difference in the mode of energy deposition by particle beam and low-LET irradiation.

Radiobiological response of human hepatoma and normal liver cells exposed to carbon ions generated by Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou

Human hepatoma and normal liver cells were irradiated with C-12(6+), ion beams (LET= 96.05 keV/mu m) and gamma-rays at Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). The chromatid breaks and break types were detected using the premature chromosome condensation technique. Our experimental results showed that chromatid breaks seem to have a good relation with C-12(6+) absorbed dose and C-12(6+) are more effective to induce chromatid breaks as compared to they-rays. For C-12(6+) ion irradiation the major break was isochromatid break, while chromatid breaks were dominant for gamma-ray irradiation. We also observed that the Relative Biology Effectiveness (RBE) of C-12(6+) ion is about 2.5 times higher than that of gamma-rays.

Effects of ion beam irradiation on adventitious shoot regeneration from in vitro leaf explants of Saintpaulia ionahta

The effects of 960 MeV carbon ion beam and 8 MeV X-ray irradiation on adventitious shoots from in vitro leaf explants of two different Saintpaulia ionahta (Mauve and Indikon) cultivars were studied with regard to tissue increase, shoots differentiation and morphology changes in the shoots. The experimental results showed that the survival fraction of shoot formation for the Mauve and Indikon irradiated with the carbon ion beam at 20 Gy were 0.715 and 0.600, respectively, while those for both the cultivars exposed to the Xray irradiation at the same dose were 1.000. Relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of Mauve with respect to X-ray was about two. Secondly, the percentage of regenerating explants with malformed shoots in all Mauve regenerating explants irradiated with carbon ion beam at 20 Gy accounted for 49.6%, while that irradiated with the same dose of X-ray irradiation was only 4.7%; as for Saintpatdia ionahta Indikon irradiated with 20 Gy carbon ion beam, the percentage was 43.3%, which was higher than that of X-ray irradiation. Last, many chlorophyll deficient and other varieties of mutants were obtained in this study. Based on the results above, it can be concluded that the effect of mutation induction by carbon ion beam irradiation on the leaf explants of Saintpaulia ionahta is better than that by X-ray irradiation; and the optimal mutagenic dose varies from 20 Gy to 25 Gy for carbon ion beam irradiation.

High-efficiency transfer and expression of AdCMV-p53 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells induced by low-dose carbon-ion radiation

Objective To investigate whether the irradiation with C-beam could enhance adenovirus-mediated transfer and expression of p53 in human hepatocellular carcinoma. Materials and methods HepG2 cells were exposed to C-beam or gamma-ray and then infected with replicationdeficient adenovirus recombinant vectors containing human wild-type p53 or green fluorescent protein, respectively. The transfer efficiency and expression level of the exogenous gene were detected by flow cytometric analysis. Cell survival fraction was detected by clonogenic assay. Results The transfer frequency in C-beam or gamma-irradiated groups increased by 50-83% and 5.7-38.0% compared with the control, respectively (P < 0.05). Compared with C-beam alone, p53 alone, and gamma-ray with p53, the percentages of p53 positive cells for 1 Gy C-beam with p53 increased by 56.0-72.0%, 63.5-82.0%, and 31.3-72.5% on first and third day after the treatments, respectively (P < 0.05). The survival fractions for the 2Gy C-bearn and AdCMV-p53 infection groups decreased to similar to 2%. Conclusion C-beam irradiation could significantly promote AdCMV-green fluorescent protein transfer and expression of p53.

Radio-resistance induced by nitric oxide to heavy ion irradiation in A172 human glioma cells

To investigate effects of nitric oxide on cellular radio-sensitivity, three human glioma cell lines, i.e. A172, A172 transfected green fluorescence protein (EGFP) gene (EA172) and A172 transfected inducible nitric oxide synthesis (iNOS) gene (iA72), were irradiated by C-12(6+) ions to 0, 1 or My. Productions of nitric oxide and glutathione (GSH) in A172, EA172 and iA172 were determined by chemical methods, cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry at the 24th hour after irradiation, and survival fraction of the cells was measured by colorimetric MTT assay at the 5th day after irradiation. The results showed that the concentrations of nitric oxide and GSH in iA172 were significantly higher than in A172 and EA172; the G(2)/M stage arrest induced by the C-12(6+) ion irradiation was observed in A172 and EA172 but not in iA172 at the 24th hour after exposure; and the survival fraction of iA172 was higher than that of EA172 and iA172. Data suggest that the radio-sensitivity of the A172 was reduced after the iNOS gene transfection. The increase of GSH production and the change of cellular signals such as the cell cycle control induced by nitric oxide may be involved in this radio-resistance.

Preparation of Microporous Membranes by Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation and Impedance Characterization

Polypropylene (PP) microporous membranes were successfully prepared by swift heavy ion irradiation and track-etching. Polypropylene foils were irradiated with Au-197 ions of kinetic energy 11.4 MeV.u(-1) (total energy of 2245.8 MeV) and fluence 1x10(8) ions.cm(-2) at normal incidence. The damaged regions produced by the gold ions along the trajectories were etched in H2SO4 and K2Cr2O7 solutions leading to the formation of cylindrical pores in the membranes. The pore diameters of the PP microporous membranes increased from 380 to 1610 nm as the etching time increased from 5 to 30 min. The surface and cross-section morphologies of the porous membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The micropores in the membranes were found to be cylindrical in shape, homogeneous in distribution, and equal in size. Some mathematical relations of the porosity of the PP microporous membranes were established by analytic derivation. The microporous membranes were used in lithium-ion batteries to measure their properties as separators. The electrical conductivity of the porous membrane immersed in liquid electrolyte was found to be comparable to that of commercial separators by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results showed that the porosity and electrical conductivity were dependent on the ion fluence and etching time. By adjusting these two factors, microporous membranes with good porosity and electrical conductivity were made that met the requirements for commercial use.