@article{ee737c255c234d39b43dfa121a377e62,
title = "Analysis of plasma protein concentrations and enzyme activities in cattle within the ex-evacuation zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant Accident",
abstract = "The effect of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident on humans and the environment is a global concern. We performed biochemical analyses of plasma from 49 Japanese Black cattle that were euthanized in the ex-evacuation zone set within a 20-km radius of FNPP. Among radionuclides attributable to the FNPP accident, germanium gamma-ray spectrometry detected photopeaks only from 134Cs and 137Cs (radiocesium) commonly in the organs and in soil examined. Radioactivity concentration of radiocesium was the highest in skeletal muscles. Assuming that the animal body was composed of only skeletal muscles, the median of internal dose rate from radiocesium was 12.5 μGy/day (ranging from 1.6 to 33.9 μGy/day). The median of external dose rate calculating from the place the cattle were caught was 18.8 μGy/day (6.0-133.4 μGy/day). The median of internal and external (total) dose rate of the individual cattle was 26.9 μGy/day (9.1-155.1 μGy/day). Plasma levels of malondialdehyde and superoxide dismutase activity were positively and glutathione peroxidase activity was negatively correlated with internal dose rate. Plasma alanine transaminase activity and percent activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)-2, LDH-3 and LDH-4 were positively and LDH-1 was negatively correlated with both internal and total dose rate. These suggest that chronic exposure to low-dose rate of ionizing radiation induces slight stress resulting in modified plasma protein and enzyme levels.",
author = "Yusuke Urushihara and Koh Kawasumi and Satoru Endo and Kenichi Tanaka and Yasuko Hirakawa and Gohei Hayashi and Tsutomu Sekine and Yasushi Kino and Yoshikazu Kuwahara and Masatoshi Suzuki and Motoi Fukumoto and Hideaki Yamashiro and Yasuyuki Abe and Tomokazu Fukuda and Hisashi Shinoda and Emiko Isogai and Toshiro Arai and Manabu Fukumoto",
note = "Funding Information: This study is one of the national projects associated with the Great East Japan Earthquake and has been entirely endorsed and supported by the Japanese government through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. The Japanese government ordered the Fukushima prefecture to euthanize livestock in the ex-evacuation zone on May 12, 2011 to prevent contaminated meat from becoming the potential source of radiation by entering the food chain. We obtained organs from the cattle euthanized by the combined unit of veterinarians belonging to the Livestock Hygiene Service Centre (LHSC) of Fukushima prefecture and to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan. Euthanasia was performed according to the Regulation for Animal Experiments and Related Activities at Tohoku University (Regulation No 122). Informed consent from the owners was obtained by the veterinarians of LHSC. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Animal Experiments, Tohoku University (2014-IDAC-037). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 Urushihara et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.",
year = "2016",
month = may,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0155069",
language = "English",
volume = "11",
journal = "PLoS One",
issn = "1932-6203",
publisher = "Public Library of Science",
number = "5",
}