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Metal ions are essential to life. However, some metals such as mercury are harmful,even when present at trace amounts. Toxicity of mercury arises mainly from its oxidizing properties. Ionizing radiation (IR) is an active tool for destruction of cancer cells and diagnosis of diseases, etc. IR induces DNA double strand breaks in the nucleus, In addition, it causes lipid peroxidation,ceramide generation, and protein oxidation in the membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus. Yeasts have been a commonly used material in biological research. In yeasts, the physiological response to changing environmental conditions is controlled by the cell types. Growth rate, mutation and environmental conditions affect cell size and shape distributions. In this work, the effect of IR and mercury chloride (Ⅱ) on the morphology of yeast cells were investigated. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells were treated with IR, mercury chloride (Ⅱ) and IR combined with mercury chloride (Ⅱ). Non-treated cells were used as a control group. Morphological changes were observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The half-lethal condition from the previous experimental results was used to the IR combined with mercury. Yeast cells were exposed to 400 and 800 Gy at dose rates of 400Gy hr-1 or 800 Gy hr-1, respectively. Yeast cells were treated with 0.05 to 0.15 mM mercury chloride (Ⅱ). Oxidative stress can damage cellular membranes through a lipidic peroxidation. This effect was detected in this work, after treatment of IR and mercury chloride (Ⅱ). The cell morphology was modified more at high doses of IR and high concentrations of mercury chloride(Ⅱ). IR and mercury chloride (Ⅱ) were of the oxidative stress. Cell morphology was modified differently according to the way of oxidative stress treatment. Moreover, morphological changes in the cell membrane were more observable in the frequently stress treated cells than the temporarily stress treated cells.
