Development of heavy-ion microbeam systems for biological and medical research

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

We had developed the heavy-ion microbeam system at TIARA of the JAEA-Takasaki, and utilized for analyzing heavy-ion induced biological effects. The collimating heavy-ion microbeam system at JAEA-Takasaki has provided target irradiation of heavy charged particles to biological material at atmospheric pressure using a minimum beam size 5 m in diameter. A variety of biological material has been irradiated using this microbeam system including cultured mammalian and higher plant cells, isolated fibers of mouse skeletal muscle, silk-worm () embryos and larvae, roots, and the nematode . The system has been applied and contributed to the investigation of mechanisms within biological organisms not only in the context of radiation biology, but also in the fields of general biology such as physiology, developmental biology and neurobiology.