Kinetics of capsule decrease after gamma radiation treatment. (A) Cells from C. neoformans strain H99 with induced, large capsules were exposed to gamma radiation for 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, or 40 min; capsule size was observed by India ink staining of suspended cells. A representative cell from each time point was chosen to illustrate the effect of gamma radiation on capsule size. Bar, 10 μm. (B) Capsule relative size from at least 20 cells was measured as indicated in Materials and Methods. The average and the standard deviation of the relative size of the capsule are plotted. (C) Schematic showing the capsular regions of C. neoformans strain H99 exposed after gamma irradiation.