V. N. Korneev

Biological and medical application of SR from the storage rings of VEPP-3 and “Siberia-2”. The origin of specific changes of small-angle X-ray diffraction pattern of hair and their correlation with the elemental content

Abstract X-ray diffraction and fluorescent investigations of human hair were carried out using SR of VEPP-3. The small-angle techniques were used for ecological monitoring and medical diagnostics of pathological states of human organisms with the usage of non-invasive methods for express analysis of biological objects, including human and animal tissues: nails, wool and hair samples. Possibility using of hair fibre diffraction to test for pathological conditions is the subject of this paper. X-ray diffraction data allowed us to suppose the two-component structural model of the hair tissue.

System of primary collimators of SR beam at the small-angle station for KSRS

Abstract The wide program of development of methods and experimental techniques for usage at the Kurchatov Synchrotron Radiation Source (KSRS) is implemented by us. The report illustrates a part of this program directed at creating the small-angle station DICSI-6 on the beam line “Siberia-2”. It is intended for X-ray diffraction research of structures and structural changes of a wide range of objects in various areas of science and technology—molecular and cell biology, organic chemistry, solid-state physics, etc. Some technical information about the elaborated system of devices for station DICSI-6 intended for forming an X-ray synchrotron beam and method for adjustment of the system are considered.

Status of method of time-resolved X-ray diffraction studies of biological objects at the Siberian SR Centre

Abstract The method of high-speed X-ray diffractometry with time resolution for small-angle studies of structural changes during muscle contraction is described. The parameters of the small-angle camera, devices for survival and control of muscle, the system for registration of diffraction patterns are considered. The algorithm for carrying out the experiment by using the time-resolved technique and steps of mathematical treatment of results are presented.

Equipment for investigations of biological nanostructures by diffraction methods using synchrotron radiation

This paper reports on the experimental and methodical developments intended for the small-angle time-resolved station DICSI (“diffraction movie“) at the K1.3a beamline of the Siberia-2 storage ring at the Russian Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute.“ The principles of operation of the optical geometric and detecting systems, as well as the control and recording system, as applied to the investigation of the dynamics of biological nanostructures, have been considered in detail. A new version of the two-coordinate detecting system based on the designed highly effective fluorescent screen (Gd2O2S: Tb) and a CSDU-429 digital camera has been developed. The advantage of this recording system over the Image Plate detecting system in phenomenological investigations is that the optical images obtained on X-ray fluorescent screens with the use of cooled CCD/CMOS arrays can be directly entered into a computer. The detecting system has been tested on different samples by small- and wide-angle X-ray diffraction methods with the use of synchrotron radiation of the VEPP-3 storage ring at the Siberian Synchrotron Center (Novosibirsk, Russia) and the Siberia-2 storage ring at the Kurchatov Center for Synchrotron Radiation and Nanotechnology (Moscow, Russia). Different modifications of original two-coordinate recording systems have been used in systematic studies of the structural dynamics of biological tissues.

Nanostructure ordering of proteoglycans of some biological objects

This paper reports on the results of systematic X-ray diffraction investigations into the structure of proteoglycans of the mucus and the extracellular matrix of biological tissues. The small-angle X-ray diffraction patterns of different native and modified tissues of man and animals are measured using synchrotron radiation. A comparative study of the structure of mucins from the mammal and invertebrate mucus is performed. It is demonstrated that the X-ray diffraction patterns of the mammal and invertebrate mucus are very similar to each other and exhibit a number of sharp diffraction rings with a spacing of 4.5 nm and its higher orders due to the highly ordered structure of giant proteoglycan molecules. It is revealed that the proteoglycan structure undergoes a transformation upon interaction with calcium cations. The type of X-ray diffraction pattern (“with a 4.5-nm ring” and “without a ring”) for intact tissues can be reversibly changed by treating the tissues in solutions of salts or chelating agents. The inference is made that the X-ray diffraction patterns of tissues can be used as markers for the structural transformation of the extracellular matrix under different exogenous actions.

X-ray stations based on cylindrical zoom lenses for nanostructural investigations using synchrotron radiation

The main results of the development of X-ray stations are presented. These stations are intended to solve problems concerning the structural biology of tissues at a high time resolution with the help of synchrotron radiation (SR) generated by the VEPP-3 storage ring (Siberian center of SR, Novosibirsk) and the Siberia-2 storage ring (National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute and the centre of nano-, bio-, information, and cognitive sciences, Moscow). The issues of selecting the optical scheme and basic parameters of X-ray optical systems are discussed. Photographs of the original designs of the constructed equipment are given. A modular approach to designing experimental facilities based on self-contained units and methods of focusing a monochromatic SR beam in the required spectral range have been developed. The technique of X-ray beam focusing by means of optical zoom lenses has been implemented. Experimental results that illustrate the possibilities of the SR-beamline hardware used for X-ray diffraction investigation of different biological objects with the help of different recording systems are presented.

DICSI station at KCSR and NT: Determination of optimal requirements to the formation of an SR beam using cylindrical x-ray optical zoom lenses

To modernize the DICSI station, new hardware and software have been created according to the conditions of the operating storage ring “Sibir’-2” beam channel. The recording system has been successfully tested on the operating channel of the storage ring VEPP-3 (Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk) using the time-resolved “diffraction cinema” technique in studying real biological objects in the static and dynamic modes of data accumulation. At the DICSI station, structural changes in medical and biological objects are permanently investigated. The specific structure dimensions of these objects are in the nanometric range.

Development of X-ray equipment for small-angle investigations of biological nanostructures on synchrotron radiation

The problems of controlled modernization of equipment for the DICSI small-angle station implemented at the Kurchatov Center for Synchrotron Radiation and Nanotechnology (Russia) are considered. The results of test experiments of software and design improvements for different modes of collection of data on objects are presented. Preliminary tests are performed at the beamline of the VEPP-3 storage ring at the Siberian Synchrotron Center. The “diffraction movie” technique with a high time resolution is developed for investigation of biological structures in static and dynamics states. The results of test experiments with biological objects are analyzed, the designed schemes are justified, and the main parameters of developed X-ray optical systems are discussed.

X-ray diffraction study of the nanostructural dynamics of fibrillar systems of hair tissue

A comprehensive review of experimental diffraction and spectral studies of hair tissue is presented. The limits of these analyses’ applicability in studying normal and transformed tissues are outlined. The effect of different endogenous and exogenous factors on the molecular and nanostructural ordering of human hair are studied by means of X-ray fluorescence and diffraction using synchrotron radiation. The diffraction pattern of hair is attributed to two fibrillar systems of tissue: the intermediate keratin filaments of its cytoskeleton and the proteoglycan fibrils of its extracellular matrix. The effect of personal hygiene products and medicines widely used for hair care on the structural transformation and elemental composition of hair tissue is investigated. Proteoglycans are considered as universal components of a matrix that ensure the structural homeostasis of biological tissue subjected to endogenous and exogenous effects. Hair tissue is a promising biological material for solving applied problems when used as a diagnostic material for the wide-scale monitoring of environmental and public health risks.

Instrumental and methodical approaches to the study of the transformation of nanostructural parameters in biological objects

The principal stages of the realization of the instrumental and methodical approaches for the solution of the problems of structural biology of tissues are given with the use of synchrotron radiation (SR) at the operating channels of VEPP-3 (Siberian Center of Synchrotron and Terahertz Radiations, SCSTR, Novosibirsk) and Siberia-2 (Kurchatov Center of Converging of Nano-, Bio-, Information-, and Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, NBIC, Moscow) storage rings. Based on the obtained data, the opportunities of the designed instrumentation and methods, as well as the experimental results of the study of tissues with various degrees of ordering, have been demonstrated.