Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Quantification of γH2AX Foci in Response to Ionising Radiation
Published on: April 6, 2010
A new aspect of specific radiation damage: hydrogen abstraction from organic molecules
Alke Meents1, Birger Dittrich, Sascha Gutmann
1HASYLAB-DESY, Notkestrasse 85, D-22607 Hamburg, Germany. alke.meents@desy.de
Abstract:
Radiation damage is one of the major impediments in obtaining high-resolution structural information utilizing ionizing radiation. From electron microscopy it is known that electron irradiation of biological samples results in the formation of molecular hydrogen. In the present work radiation-induced structural changes of the polypeptide cyclosporine A were observed at a temperature of 100 K. Bond length changes are thought to be due to radiation-induced hydrogen abstraction which chemically modifies the molecules in an irreversible way. The resulting formation of molecular hydrogen might explain the observed increase of the crystal mosaicity, which has also been reported in many previous radiation damage studies.
More Related Videos
14:11Quantification of Hydrogen Concentrations in Surface and Interface Layers and Bulk Materials through Depth Profiling with Nuclear Reaction Analysis
Published on: March 29, 2016
09:59Laser-free Hydroxyl Radical Protein Footprinting to Perform Higher Order Structural Analysis of Proteins
Published on: June 4, 2021
Related Concept Videos
Radical Formation: Abstraction
Even though homolysis produces radicals, it is different from radical...
Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Chain Branching
Radical Anti-Markovnikov Addition to Alkenes: Mechanism
The mechanism starts with chain initiation, which involves two steps. In the first chain initiation step, a weak peroxide bond is homolytically cleaved upon mild heating to form two alkoxy radicals. In the second initiation step, a hydrogen atom is abstracted by the alkoxy radical...
Nucleotide Excision Repair
Nucleotide Excision Repair
Cells are regularly exposed to mutagens—factors in the environment that can damage DNA and generate mutations. UV radiation is one of the most common mutagens and is estimated to introduce a significant number of changes in DNA. These include bends or kinks in the structure, which can block DNA replication or transcription. If these errors are not fixed, the damage can cause mutations, which in turn can result in cancer or disease depending on which sequences are...
Radical Formation: Homolysis