title: The fate of a normal human cell traversed by a single charged particle.
abstract: The long-term "fate" of normal human cells after single hits of charged particles is one of the oldest unsolved issues in radiation protection and cellular radiobiology. Using a high-precision heavy-ion microbeam we could target normal human fibroblasts with exactly one or five carbon ions and measured the early cytogenetic damage and the late behaviour using single-cell cloning. Around 70% of the first cycle cells presented visible aberrations in mFISH after a single ion traversal, and about 5% of the cells were still able to form colonies. In one third of selected high-proliferative colonies we observed clonal (radiation-induced) aberrations. Terminal differentiation and markers of senescence (PCNA, p16) in the descendants of cells traversed by one carbon ion occurred earlier than in controls, but no evidence of radiation-induced chromosomal instability was found. We conclude that cells surviving single-ion traversal, often carrying clonal chromosome aberrations, undergo accelerated senescence but maintain chromosomal stability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics, GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research, Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fournier
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zahnreich
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kraft
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Friedrich
authors.forename: K O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Voss
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Durante
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ritter
mesh_terms: D015153:Blotting, Western; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000528:radiation effects; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000528:radiation effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000528:radiation effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000528:radiation effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16 / Q000378:metabolism; D004249:DNA Damage; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects*; D052816:Foreskin / Q000166:cytology; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D018499:Linear Energy Transfer; D008297:Male; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D011859:Radiography; D032681:Spectral Karyotyping; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16; C468783:H2AX protein, human; D006657:Histones; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen