An Attempt to locally target the nervous system of with carbon-ion microbeam

Sakashita, Tetsuya; Suzuki, Michiyo; Hamada, Nobuyuki*; Fukamoto, Kana; Yokota, Yuichiro; Funayama, Tomoo; Kobayashi, Yasuhiko

To investigate the neurogenesis-independent effects of ionizing radiation on the nervous system, we have used a nematode, , in adult. Recently, we found the modulatory effects of -rays on the salt chemotaxis learning in . Biological effectiveness is known to differ with the linear energy transfer (LET) of radiation: A high-LET radiation causes more dense ionization along their trajectories, and induces more serious biological effects, compared with low-LET radiations such as -rays. Thus, this study aims to address the effects of high-LET carbon ions on the salt chemotaxis learning in . Moreover, localized ionizing irradiation is a useful probe to analyzing radiation effects at a cellular or tissue level. To investigate the effects on the neuronal tissue (a nerve ring), we used the heavy-ion microbeam system at the Takasaki Ion accelerators for Advanced Radiation Application (TIARA) of JAEA.