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A Hauptner

Publications and source records attributed to A Hauptner.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

DNA-repair protein distribution along the tracks of energetic ions.

A simple model of homogenous chromatin distribution in HeLa-cell nuclei suggests that the track of an energetic ion hits 30 nm chromatin fibers with a mean distance of 0.55 mum. To test this assumption, living HeLa-cells were irradiated at the irradiation setup of the ion microprobe SNAKE using the ion beams provided by the Munich 14 MV tandem accelerator. After irradiation, the distribution of 53BP1 protein foci was studied by immunofluorescence. The observed 53BP1 distribution along the tracks of 29 MeV (7)Li ions and 24 MeV (12)C ions differed significantly from the expectations resulting from the simple chromatin model, suggesting that the biological track structure is determined by cell nuclear architecture with higher order organisation of chromatin.

Chromatin↗

Three-dimensional hydrogen microscopy in diamond.

A microprobe of protons with an energy of 17 million electron volts is used to quantitatively image three-dimensional hydrogen distributions at a lateral resolution better than 1 micrometer with high sensitivity. Hydrogen images of a <110>-textured undoped polycrystalline diamond film show that most of the hydrogen is located at grain boundaries. The average amount of hydrogen atoms along the grain boundaries is (8.1 +/- 1.5) x 10(14) per square centimeter, corresponding to about a third of a monolayer. The hydrogen content within the grain is below the experimental sensitivity of 1.4 x 10(16) atoms per cubic centimeter (0.08 atomic parts per million). The data prove a low hydrogen content within chemical vapor deposition-grown diamond and the importance of hydrogen at grain boundaries, for example, with respect to electronic properties of polycrystalline diamond.

Journal Article↗

Microirradiation of cells with energetic heavy ions.

The ion microprobe SNAKE at the Munich 14 MV tandem accelerator achieves beam focussing by a superconducting quadrupole doublet and can make use of a broad range of ions and ion energies, from 20 MeV protons to 200 MeV gold ions. Because of these properties, SNAKE is particularly attractive for biological microbeam experiments. Here we describe the adaptation of SNAKE for microirradiation of cell samples. This includes enlarging of the focal distance in order to adjust the focal plane to the specimen stage of a microscope, construction of a beam exit window in a flexible nozzle and of a suitable cell containment, as well as development of procedures for on-line focussing of the beam, preparation of single ions and scanning by electrostatic deflection of the beam. When irradiating with single 100 MeV (16)O ions, the adapted set-up permits an irradiation accuracy of 0.91 microm (full width at half maximum) in the x-direction and 1.60 microm in the y-direction, as demonstrated by retrospective track etching of polycarbonate foils. Accumulation of the repair protein Rad51, as detected by immunofluorescence, was used as a biological track detector after irradiation of HeLa cells with geometric patterns of counted ions. Observed patterns of fluorescence foci agreed reasonably well with irradiation patterns, indicating successful adaptation of SNAKE. In spite of single ion irradiation, we frequently observed split fluorescence foci which might be explained by small-scale chromatin movements.

Cells, Cultured↗