[Effect of single alpha-particle on cells].

The mechanisms of biological effect of charged particles in space was studied through the inactivation effect of very low-density charged particles on very low-density cells at different impact parameters. A small type of microbeam facility with alpha-radioactive source and CN track detector were used. A diploid wild type Saccharomyces cerevisiae served as experimental eukaryotic cell. The correlation between cell inactivation and impact parameter of alpha-particles on cells was obtained through a CCD-camera system. The results showed that inactivation range of 1.13 MeV/u alpha-particles on cell-agarose mixture was about 5.5 micrometers, larger than the sum (about 3.l micrometers) of ion track-penumbra radius and yeast cell radius. The cell inactivation rate was 0.36-0.33. It suggests that multi-hit on a cell is necessary for killing it. However, in case of miss, the inactivation rate may not be zero at certain impact parameters.