An ultraviolet-laser microbeam was shown to be suitable for inducing fusion of individually selected plant protoplasts or of B-lymphocytes with myeloma cells. The fusion took place in normal culture medium and the fusogenic condition perturbed the cells only for a fraction of a millisecond. Without manipulating the cell culture except for exposing the cells to laser light, fusion products betwe...

In contrast to total cell irradiation, local UV-microbeam irradiation can stimulate a significant diminution in the irradiated mature nucleoli in interphase mammalian cells in culture. This diminution is accompanied by the concomitant expansion of the unirradiated nucleoli within the same nucleus, and the total nucleolar volume per nucleus does not change appreciably. It is suggested that these...

BACKGROUND Normal tissue toxicity is the dose-limiting side effect of radiotherapy. Spatial fractionation irradiation techniques, like microbeam radiotherapy (MRT), have shown promising results in sparing the normal brain tissue. Most MRT studies have been conducted at synchrotron facilities. With the aim to make this promising treatment more available, we have built the first desktop image-gui...

Among the microanalytical techniques, electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) is one of the most powerful. Its performances can be used to provide an accurate characterization. In the present article the differences between the EPMA of highly irradiated materials and standard EPMA are highlighted. It focuses on the shielded EPMA specificities. Then, the article presents the difficulties encountered...