Effects of carbon ion irradiation on the germ cell apoptosis in Caenorhabditis elegans

Heavy ion irradiation is a perfect means in radio-therapy due to its special depth dose distribution and high relative biological effects. The biological effects of heavy ion irradiation are determined by some major physical parameters, and vary along the tracks of heavy ions. Therefore, it is very significant for the tumor radio-therapy to investigate the biological effects along whole range of heavy ion radiation. In the present study, Caenorhabditis elegans, a model in vivo, was irradiated by carbon ion beams from HCRFL-CSRe, The level of germ cell apoptosis of worms was used as a checking endpoint for DNA damage, the effects of carbon irradiation located in the entrance, plateau and peak regions on the genomic instability of the irradiated worm and their progeny were detected. The results showed that the 10 and 20 Gy of carbon ion radiations led to the increased germ cell apoptosis in irradiated worms and these effects depend on the worm location along the range of carbon ions and the irradiation dosage. The results also suggested that heavy ion irradiation induced the up-regulated genomic instability in their progeny, and might be related to both the irradiation dose and the irradiated location. (authors)