Biological effects induced by K photo-ionisation in and near constituent atoms of DNA

In order to assess the lethal efficiency and other biological effects of inner shell ionisations of constituent atoms of DNA ('K' events), experiments were developed at the LURE synchrotron facility using ultrasoft X rays as a probe of K events. The lethal efficiency of ultrasoft X rays above the carbon K threshold was especially investigated using V79 cells and compared with their efficiency to induce double strand breaks in dry plasmid-DNA. A correlation between the K event efficiencies for these processes is shown. Beams of 340 eV were found to be twice as efficient at killing cells than were beams at 250 eV. In addition, a rough two-fold increase of the relative biological effectiveness for dicentric+ring induction has also been observed between 250 and 340 eV radiations. (author)