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

¹ Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, ² Life Science School of North West Normal University, ³ Life Science School of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

Human hepatoma and normal liver cells were irradiated with ¹²C⁶⁺ ion beams (linear energy transfer (LET) = 96 keV µm^–1) and -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 ¹²C⁶⁺ ions produced a majority of isochromatid break types, while chromatid breaks were dominant for irradiation with -rays. Experimental results showed that the initial level of chromatid breaks is clearly related to the absorbed dose from ¹²C⁶⁺ ions and -rays. The ¹²C⁶⁺ ions are relatively more effective at inducing initial chromatid breaks when compared with the -rays. A relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of about 2.5 resulted for the induction of initial chromatid breaks by ¹²C⁶⁺ ions relative to -rays in both cell lines.