scholarly journals A new aspect of specific radiation damage: hydrogen abstraction from organic molecules

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alke Meents ◽  
Birger Dittrich ◽  
Sascha Gutmann

Radiation damage is one of the major impediments in obtaining high-resolution structural information utilizing ionizing radiation. From electron microscopy it is known that electron irradiation of biological samples results in the formation of molecular hydrogen. In the present work radiation-induced structural changes of the polypeptide cyclosporine A were observed at a temperature of 100 K. Bond length changes are thought to be due to radiation-induced hydrogen abstraction which chemically modifies the molecules in an irreversible way. The resulting formation of molecular hydrogen might explain the observed increase of the crystal mosaicity, which has also been reported in many previous radiation damage studies.

Author(s):  
Robert C. Rau ◽  
John Moteff

Transmission electron microscopy has been used to study the thermal annealing of radiation induced defect clusters in polycrystalline tungsten. Specimens were taken from cylindrical tensile bars which had been irradiated to a fast (E > 1 MeV) neutron fluence of 4.2 × 1019 n/cm2 at 70°C, annealed for one hour at various temperatures in argon, and tensile tested at 240°C in helium. Foils from both the unstressed button heads and the reduced areas near the fracture were examined.Figure 1 shows typical microstructures in button head foils. In the unannealed condition, Fig. 1(a), a dispersion of fine dot clusters was present. Annealing at 435°C, Fig. 1(b), produced an apparent slight decrease in cluster concentration, but annealing at 740°C, Fig. 1(C), resulted in a noticeable densification of the clusters. Finally, annealing at 900°C and 1040°C, Figs. 1(d) and (e), caused a definite decrease in cluster concentration and led to the formation of resolvable dislocation loops.


Author(s):  
N. Bonnet ◽  
M. Troyon ◽  
P. Gallion

Two main problems in high resolution electron microscopy are first, the existence of gaps in the transfer function, and then the difficulty to find complex amplitude of the diffracted wawe from registered intensity. The solution of this second problem is in most cases only intended by the realization of several micrographs in different conditions (defocusing distance, illuminating angle, complementary objective apertures…) which can lead to severe problems of contamination or radiation damage for certain specimens.Fraunhofer holography can in principle solve both problems stated above (1,2). The microscope objective is strongly defocused (far-field region) so that the two diffracted beams do not interfere. The ideal transfer function after reconstruction is then unity and the twin image do not overlap on the reconstructed one.We show some applications of the method and results of preliminary tests.Possible application to the study of cavitiesSmall voids (or gas-filled bubbles) created by irradiation in crystalline materials can be observed near the Scherzer focus, but it is then difficult to extract other informations than the approximated size.


Author(s):  
Ya Chen ◽  
Geoffrey Letchworth ◽  
John White

Low-temperature high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (cryo-HRSEM) has been successfully utilized to image biological macromolecular complexes at nanometer resolution. Recently, imaging of individual viral particles such as reovirus using cryo-HRSEM or simian virus (SIV) using HRSEM, HV-STEM and AFM have been reported. Although conventional electron microscopy (e.g., negative staining, replica, embedding and section), or cryo-TEM technique are widely used in studying of the architectures of viral particles, scanning electron microscopy presents two major advantages. First, secondary electron signal of SEM represents mostly surface topographic features. The topographic details of a biological assembly can be viewed directly and will not be obscured by signals from the opposite surface or from internal structures. Second, SEM may produce high contrast and signal-to-noise ratio images. As a result of this important feature, it is capable of visualizing not only individual virus particles, but also asymmetric or flexible structures. The 2-3 nm resolution obtained using high resolution cryo-SEM made it possible to provide useful surface structural information of macromolecule complexes within cells and tissues. In this study, cryo-HRSEM is utilized to visualize the distribution of glycoproteins of a herpesvirus.


Author(s):  
J.M. Howe ◽  
R. Gronsky

The technique of high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) is invaluable to the materials scientist because it allows examination of microstructural features at levels of resolution that are unobtainable by most other methods. Although the structural information which can be determined by HREM and accompanying image simulations has been well documented in the literature, there have only been a few cases where this technique has been used to reveal the chemistry of individual columns or planes of atoms, as occur in segregated and ordered materials.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (S1) ◽  
pp. 3358-3359
Author(s):  
Hyeokmin Choe ◽  
Eric Montgomery ◽  
Ilya Ponomarev ◽  
June Lau ◽  
Yimei Zhu ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4566
Author(s):  
Shin-ichi Hirano ◽  
Yusuke Ichikawa ◽  
Bunpei Sato ◽  
Haru Yamamoto ◽  
Yoshiyasu Takefuji ◽  
...  

Although ionizing radiation (radiation) is commonly used for medical diagnosis and cancer treatment, radiation-induced damages cannot be avoided. Such damages can be classified into direct and indirect damages, caused by the direct absorption of radiation energy into DNA and by free radicals, such as hydroxyl radicals (•OH), generated in the process of water radiolysis. More specifically, radiation damage concerns not only direct damages to DNA, but also secondary damages to non-DNA targets, because low-dose radiation damage is mainly caused by these indirect effects. Molecular hydrogen (H2) has the potential to be a radioprotective agent because it can selectively scavenge •OH, a reactive oxygen species with strong oxidizing power. Animal experiments and clinical trials have reported that H2 exhibits a highly safe radioprotective effect. This paper reviews previously reported radioprotective effects of H2 and discusses the mechanisms of H2, not only as an antioxidant, but also in intracellular responses including anti-inflammation, anti-apoptosis, and the regulation of gene expression. In doing so, we demonstrate the prospects of H2 as a novel and clinically applicable radioprotective agent.


1984 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. White ◽  
E. L. Thomas

Abstract We hope that this review contains convincing evidence of the value of scanning electron microscopy in polymer studies. Much information has been provided by this technique which could not be obtained by any other means. We hope, too, that we have indicated the kinds of problems that are confronted when dealing with this class of materials. Charging can be a problem, but this can normally be countered by applying a conductive coating. More serious is radiation damage, which may cause image deterioration and artifact production. Sometimes this will obscure the features about which information is sought and could lead to false interpretation. Proper controls should be applied and observations made at several magnifications and several beam potentials and currents to establish the best conditions. Although we have emphasized the difficulties that may be encountered when studying polymers in the SEM, many polymers provide very easy subjects, especially if high resolution (∼ 10 nm) is not sought, and standard SEM procedures are very straightforward. We hope that the value of the technique indicated by the many successful applications to which we have referred will act as sufficient incentive to outweigh any deterrent message that might be derived from our more cautionary passages relating to the difficulties.


IUCrJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 393-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Schubert ◽  
Svetlana Kapis ◽  
Yannig Gicquel ◽  
Gleb Bourenkov ◽  
Thomas R. Schneider ◽  
...  

Many biochemical processes take place on timescales ranging from femtoseconds to seconds. Accordingly, any time-resolved experiment must be matched to the speed of the structural changes of interest. Therefore, the timescale of interest defines the requirements of the X-ray source, instrumentation and data-collection strategy. In this study, a minimalistic approach forin situcrystallization is presented that requires only a few microlitres of sample solution containing a few hundred crystals. It is demonstrated that complete diffraction data sets, merged from multiple crystals, can be recorded within only a few minutes of beamtime and allow high-resolution structural information of high quality to be obtained with a temporal resolution of 40 ms. Global and site-specific radiation damage can be avoided by limiting the maximal dose per crystal to 400 kGy. Moreover, analysis of the data collected at higher doses allows the time-resolved observation of site-specific radiation damage. Therefore, our approach is well suited to observe structural changes and possibly enzymatic reactions in the low-millisecond regime.


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