J M Monti

Nitric oxide release and enhancement of lipid peroxidation in regenerating rat liver.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Clarification of the role of lipid peroxidation in the onset of liver proliferation has been hampered by the fact that both higher and lower lipid peroxidation have been reported after two-thirds partial hepatectomy. Recently, it has been shown that nitric oxide might be involved in the control of early responses after partial hepatectomy. We analysed the possible involvement of nitric oxide production in lipid peroxidation levels during liver regeneration. METHODS Sham-operated, hepatectomised and sham and hepatectomised rats pretreated with two inhibitors of oxide nitric synthesis (aminoguanidine or N(G)-monomethyl-L-arginine) were used throughout. Animals were killed at 1, 3, 5 and 15 h after surgery. Cytosolic superoxide dismutase and microsomal-lysosomal catalase activities were measured. Lipid peroxidation levels were measured as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and conjugated dienes. Cytosolic nitrate (a stable metabolic product of nitric oxide) was enzymatically determined. Inducible-type nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was analysed in hepatic cytosol by immunoblotting. DNA synthesis 24 and 48 h after surgery was assessed by [3H]thymidine incorporation. RESULTS Increased lipid peroxidation was found in total homogenate, cytosol and microsomes. The hepatic cytosolic content of nitrates increased, reaching the highest values at 5 h posthepatectomy. Aminoguanidine or N(G)-monomethyl-L-arginine pretreatment blocked the rise of nitric oxide production and lipid peroxidation levels and decreased the DNA synthesis. The increase in hepatic iNOS protein expression at 5 h after partial hepatectomy disappeared with aminoguanidine pretreatment. CONCLUSIONS Our experiments suggest that nitric oxide plays a role in the proliferation mechanism, although it is responsible, at least in part, for the enhanced lipid peroxidation.

Distorted wave theories for dressed-ion–atom collisions with GSZ projectile potentials

The continuum distorted wave and the continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state approximations for electron emission in ion–atom collisions are generalized to the case of dressed projectiles. The interaction between the dressed projectile and the active electron is represented by the analytic Green–Sellin–Zachor (GSZ) potential. Doubly differential cross sections as a function of the emitted electron energy and angle are computed. The region of the binary encounter peak is analysed in detail. Interference structures appear in agreement with the experimental data and are interpreted as arising from the coherent interference between short- and long-range scattering amplitudes.

Influence of the dynamic screening on single-electron ionization of multi-electron atoms

A complete formulation of the post-version of the continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state model to investigate single-electron ionization of multi-electron atoms by fast bare ion beams is considered. The influence of the non-ionized electrons on the dynamic evolution of the ejected electron is analysed showing that the corresponding interaction plays a main role in the determination of double differential cross sections. It is demonstrated that its inclusion as an additional term in the perturbative potential of the exit channel avoids discrepancies between the pre- and post-versions of the studied distorted wave model.

Water versus DNA: new insights into proton track-structure modelling in radiobiology and radiotherapy.

Water is a common surrogate of DNA for modelling the charged particle-induced ionizing processes in living tissue exposed to radiations. The present study aims at scrutinizing the validity of this approximation and then revealing new insights into proton-induced energy transfers by a comparative analysis between water and realistic biological medium. In this context, a self-consistent quantum mechanical modelling of the ionization and electron capture processes is reported within the continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state framework for both isolated water molecules and DNA components impacted by proton beams. Their respective probability of occurrence-expressed in terms of total cross sections-as well as their energetic signature (potential and kinetic) are assessed in order to clearly emphasize the differences existing between realistic building blocks of living matter and the controverted water-medium surrogate. Consequences in radiobiology and radiotherapy will be discussed in particular in view of treatment planning refinement aiming at better radiotherapy strategies.

Ionization of helium targets by proton impact: a four-body distorted wave-eikonal initial state model and electron dynamic correlation

Single ionization of dielectronic atomic targets by the impact of protons is theoretically investigated. To describe this process, a four-body distorted wave model is proposed where both electrons are considered as active ones. In particular, the case corresponding to ionization of one of the electrons while the other one remains in a bound state of the residual target is analysed. The influence of the dynamic correlation between electrons, which is included in the model through the simultaneous time coupling of their evolutions during the collision, is analysed for the proton–helium system under different physical conditions.

Ionization of water molecules by ion beams. On the relevance of dynamic screening and the influence of the description of the initial state

Single ionization from water molecules by impact of protons, alpha particles and C6 + ions is studied. The post- and prior-versions of the continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state (CDW-EIS) model within an independent electron approximation are employed to compute double differential cross sections. To avoid the complexity of using numerical molecular continuum states in the cross-section calculations, effective Coulombic continuum wavefunctions are employed. However, this may lead to the appearance of post–prior discrepancies and this fact is examined in detail. Moreover, the influence of the dynamic screening on this behaviour is studied. In addition, the contribution of different molecular orbitals to the angular spectrum is analysed for several ejection electron energies. Finally, the sensitivity of CDW-EIS calculations to the representation of the initial bound molecular orbitals is investigated.

Single electron ionization of multishell atoms: dynamic screening and post–prior discrepancies in the CDW-EIS model

A complete formulation of the post-version of the continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state (CDW-EIS) model is used to investigate single ionization of multishell atoms by fast bare proton beams. The influence of the non-ionized electrons on the dynamic evolution is studied for each of the different shells of the targets. Its inclusion was made by means of the parametric Green–Sellin–Zachor potential. In this way, it is shown that discrepancies between the prior- and post-versions of the CDW-EIS model are avoided for any nl states of the systems studied here. The present analysis is supported by comparisons with existing experimental electron emission spectra.

Quantum interferences in swift highly-charged dressed-ion–atom collisions

Ionization of He targets by impact of partially stripped nuclei is investigated. A unified theoretical model, based on the continuum distorted wave–eikonal initial state approximation, is employed to describe the appearance of structures in the experimental doubly differential spectra. These structures are interpreted in terms of coherent interference of short- and long-range contributions of the perturbative projectile potential.

Experimental and theoretical results on electron emission in collisions between He targets and dressed Liq+ (q = 1, 2) projectiles

We investigate experimentally and theoretically the electron emission in collisions between He atoms and (q = 1, 2) projectiles at intermediate to high incident energies. We report on measured absolute values of double-differential cross-sections, as a function of the emitted electron energy and angle, at a collision energy of 440 keV u−1. The different contributions from target ionization, projectile ionization, and simultaneous target–projectile ionization are calculated with the quantum-mechanical continuum distorted wave and continuum distorted wave–eikonal initial state models, and with classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulations. There is an overall good agreement of the calculations with the experimental data for electron emission cross-sections.

Double differential distribution of electron emission in the ionization of water molecules by fast bare oxygen ions

The doubly differential distributions of low-energy electron emission in the ionization of water molecules under the impact of fast bare oxygen ions with energy of 48 MeV are measured. The measured data are compared with two quantum-mechanical models, i.e. the post and prior versions of the continuum distorted wave–eikonal initial state (CDW-EIS) approximation, and the first-order Born approximation with initial and final wavefunctions verifying correct boundary conditions (CB1). An overall excellent qualitative agreement is found between the data and the CDW-EIS models whereas the CB1 model showed substantial deviation. However, the detailed angular distributions display some discrepancies with both CDW-EIS models. The single differential and total cross-sections exhibit good agreement with the CDW-EIS models. The present detailed data set could also be used as an input for modeling highly charged ion induced radiation damage in living tissues, whose most abundant component is water. Similar measurements are also carried out for a projectile energy of 60 MeV. However, since the double differential cross-section data show similar results the details are not provided here, except for the total ionization cross-sections results.