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State of the autonomic reflex mechanisms in humans subjected to irradiation because of the Chernobyl' catastrophe

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Abstract

People affected by the catastrophe at the Chernobyl' Nuclear Power Station (ChNPS) were subjected to a detailed clinical neurological examination. In 328 examined individuals, sympathetic skin responses (SSR), evoked by transcutaneous stimulation of then. medianus, were recorded. These people were classified in the following groups: group I, people involved in the cleanup and repair after the catastrophe (henceforth called cleanup workers) who were subjected to relatively short-lasting, but high-intensity irradiation (the integral absorbed dose of 0.7–6.5 Gy) and suffered from acute radiation syndrome; group II, cleanup workers who received lower absorbed doses, but had worked at the NPS before the catastrophe and continued later to work within the excluded zone; group III, cleanup workers involved only in the work of 1986; group IV, foresters and woodcutters, who permanently live and work within the contamined territories; and group V, the people not involved in the work of 1986, but who worked for a long time within the excluded zone on rotating shifts. The latter group was subdivided into two subgroups: a, men; and b, women. Considerable SSR modifications were typical of all these groups. The amplitude of this potential sharply dropped, while its duration increased more than 1.5 times, on average. Both these parameters showed high individual variability, and the phase structure of SSR was noticeably modified in a considerable share of the examined people. At the same time, the SSR latencies showed no systematic shifts, as compared with those observed in the control group. The mean amplitudes of SSR recorded from the palms in groups I–IV and subgroups Va and Vb reached only 54, 27, 40, 47, 27, and 46% of the values measured in the control group, while those of SSR recorded from the soles was in groups I–IV of 22, 18, 23, and 31%. The data of neurological examination of the persons subjected to irradiation indicated an expressed pathology in the diencephalo-limbic structures; this pathology was manifested as an autonomic dysfunction with dominating symptoms of the injury of the sympathetic system. It is concluded that long-lasting influence of external and internal irradiation, even at its low intensity, results in serious impairments of the central structures providing control of autonomic functions (first of all, of the hypothalamus). These impairments lead to the development of cardiovascular and neurotrophic disorders and represent the most important factors that determine pathological shifts both in the autonomic and somatic reflex mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Radiology of Scientific Center for Radiation Medicine, Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

    E. A. Vashchenko, A. I. Nyagu & B. A. Brous

  2. Bogomolets Institute of Physiology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

    D. A. Vasilenko

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  1. E. A. Vashchenko
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  2. A. I. Nyagu
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  3. B. A. Brous
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  4. D. A. Vasilenko
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Vashchenko, E.A., Nyagu, A.I., Brous, B.A. et al. State of the autonomic reflex mechanisms in humans subjected to irradiation because of the Chernobyl' catastrophe. Neurophysiology 30, 1–12 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02463106

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