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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 95 » Issue 15
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 153201 (2005) [4 pages]

Beyond the Bragg Peak: Hyperthermal Heavy Ion Damage to DNA Components

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Zongwu Deng, Ilko Bald*, Eugen Illenberger*, and Michael A. Huels†
Ion Reaction Laboratory, Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiobiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, J1H 5N4, Canada

Received 25 May 2005; published 7 October 2005

We have observed the destruction of fundamental building blocks of DNA (nucleoside, base, and sugar) by hyperthermal (0.25–1.75  eV/amu) heavy ion impact. Nucleoside damage pathways include base or sugar loss, and complete disintegration of either moiety. Sugar damage dominates, and in DNA will yield a complex strand break. Our results suggest that (a) heavy particle damage to biological media may extend to ion track ends beyond the Bragg peak, and (b) the nascent damage by hyperthermal secondary heavy particles, formed along the primary ion tracks, may be equally complex.

© 2005 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.153201
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.153201
PACS:
34.50.Dy, 82.30.Fi, 87.14.Gg

*Permanent address: Institut für Chemie—Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustrasse 3, D-14195 Berlin, Germany.

†Corresponding author.

michael.huels@usherbrooke.ca

 
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