TY - JOUR
T1 - Distribution of Artificial Radionuclides in Abandoned Cattle in the Evacuation Zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
AU - Fukuda, Tomokazu
AU - Kino, Yasushi
AU - Abe, Yasuyuki
AU - Yamashiro, Hideaki
AU - Kuwahara, Yoshikazu
AU - Nihei, Hidekazu
AU - Sano, Yosuke
AU - Irisawa, Ayumi
AU - Shimura, Tsutomu
AU - Fukumoto, Motoi
AU - Shinoda, Hisashi
AU - Obata, Yuichi
AU - Saigusa, Shin
AU - Sekine, Tsutomu
AU - Isogai, Emiko
AU - Fukumoto, Manabu
N1 - 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 Fukushima Prefecture to euthanize cattle in the evacuation zone on May 12, 2011 to prevent radio-contaminated beef products entering the human food chain. We collected organs and tissues from the euthanized cattle by the combined unit of veterinary doctors belonging to the Livestock Hygiene Service Center (LHSC) of Fukushima Prefecture and those belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan. Cattle were sacrificed by these veterinarians by the following method according to the Regulation for Animal Experiments and Related Activities at Tohoku University (Regulation No 122) briefly described as below. The owner of each cattle was identified by the ear tag of the cattle and informed consent from the owner was obtained by the veterinary doctors of Fukushima Prefecture. The procedure of euthanasia was entirely carried out by the veterinary doctors of LHSC. The cattle used as negative control for radioactive substances were used for practical training of anatomy for students at Rakuno Gakuen University, Hokkaido, Japan. Use of the cattle for this study was approved by the Ethics Committee for Animal Experiments of Rakuno Gakuen University. These cattle were sacrificed by exanguination from the jugular vein in their unconscious state by a pentobarbital overdose via intramuscular injection of hypnotics (Xylazine hydrochloride, 0.2 mg/kg), then PB was collected from the jugular vein, after which Pentobarbital (2 mg/kg) and Suxamethonium were injected.
PY - 2013/1/29
Y1 - 2013/1/29
N2 - The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident released large amounts of radioactive substances into the environment. In order to provide basic information for biokinetics of radionuclides and for dose assessment of internal exposure brought by the FNPP accident, we determined the activity concentration of radionuclides in the organs of 79 cattle within a 20-km radius around the FNPP. In all the specimens examined, deposition of Cesium-134 (134Cs, half-life: 2.065 y) and 137Cs (30.07 y) was observed. Furthermore, organ-specific deposition of radionuclides with relatively short half-lives was detected, such as silver-110m (110mAg, 249.8 d) in the liver and tellurium-129m (129mTe, 33.6 d) in the kidney. Regression analysis showed a linear correlation between the radiocesium activity concentration in whole peripheral blood (PB) and that in each organ. The resulting slopes were organ dependent with the maximum value of 21.3 being obtained for skeletal muscles (R2 = 0.83, standard error (SE) = 0.76). Thus, the activity concentration of 134 Cs and 137Cs in an organ can be estimated from that in PB. The level of radioactive cesium in the organs of fetus and infants were 1.19-fold (R2 = 0.62, SE = 0.12), and 1.51-fold (R2 = 0.70, SE = 0.09) higher than that of the corresponding maternal organ, respectively. Furthermore, radiocesium activity concentration in organs was found to be dependent on the feeding conditions and the geographic location of the cattle. This study is the first to reveal the detailed systemic distribution of radionuclides in cattle attributed to the FNPP accident.
AB - The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident released large amounts of radioactive substances into the environment. In order to provide basic information for biokinetics of radionuclides and for dose assessment of internal exposure brought by the FNPP accident, we determined the activity concentration of radionuclides in the organs of 79 cattle within a 20-km radius around the FNPP. In all the specimens examined, deposition of Cesium-134 (134Cs, half-life: 2.065 y) and 137Cs (30.07 y) was observed. Furthermore, organ-specific deposition of radionuclides with relatively short half-lives was detected, such as silver-110m (110mAg, 249.8 d) in the liver and tellurium-129m (129mTe, 33.6 d) in the kidney. Regression analysis showed a linear correlation between the radiocesium activity concentration in whole peripheral blood (PB) and that in each organ. The resulting slopes were organ dependent with the maximum value of 21.3 being obtained for skeletal muscles (R2 = 0.83, standard error (SE) = 0.76). Thus, the activity concentration of 134 Cs and 137Cs in an organ can be estimated from that in PB. The level of radioactive cesium in the organs of fetus and infants were 1.19-fold (R2 = 0.62, SE = 0.12), and 1.51-fold (R2 = 0.70, SE = 0.09) higher than that of the corresponding maternal organ, respectively. Furthermore, radiocesium activity concentration in organs was found to be dependent on the feeding conditions and the geographic location of the cattle. This study is the first to reveal the detailed systemic distribution of radionuclides in cattle attributed to the FNPP accident.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0054312
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0054312
M3 - Article
C2 - 23372703
AN - SCOPUS:84872799548
VL - 8
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 1
M1 - e54312
ER -