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Does the cortical bone resorption rate change due to 90Sr-radiation exposure? Analysis of data from Techa Riverside residents

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Abstract

The Mayak Production Association released large amounts of 90Sr into the Techa River (Southern Urals, Russia) with peak amounts in 1950–1951. Techa Riverside residents ingested an average of about 3,000 kBq of 90Sr. The 90Sr-body burden of approximately 15,000 individuals has been measured in the Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine in 1974–1997 with use of a special whole-body counter (WBC). Strontium-90 had mainly deposited in the cortical part of the skeleton by 25 years following intake, and 90Sr elimination occurs as a result of cortical bone resorption. The effect of 90Sr-radiation exposure on the rate of cortical bone resorption was studied. Data on 2,022 WBC measurements were selected for 207 adult persons, who were measured three or more times before they were 50–55 years old. The individual-resorption rates were calculated with the rate of strontium recirculation evaluated as 0.0018 year−1. Individual absorbed doses in red bone marrow (RBM) and bone surface (BS) were also calculated. Statistically significant negative relationships of cortical bone resorption rate were discovered related to 90Sr-body burden and dose absorbed in the RBM or the BS. The response appears to have a threshold of about 1.5-Gy RBM dose. The radiation-induced decrease in bone resorption rate may not be significant in terms of health. However, a decrease in bone remodeling rate can be among several causes of an increased level of degenerative dystrophic bone pathology in exposed persons.

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Notes

  1. There were several official, formal documents that prohibited the use of river water and river floodplain for any purposes: Decree of the USSR Council of Ministers of 6 January 1953; three Decrees of the USSR Council of Ministers and Russian Federation Council of Ministers in 1953–1954; Decree of USSR Council of Ministers of 11 June 1954 on exclusion of any household utilization of Techa River water, and establishment of prohibited area; Decree of Chelyabinsk Regional Executive Committee No 760 of 9 July 1954 on establishment of prohibited areas within the limits of riverside settlements and near bridges.

  2. The average age of menopause among Techa Riverside women with estimated individual strontium elimination rates was 48 years. The age shift in the analyzed sample is due to the requirement of three or more WBC measurements over a period of 5 years or longer before menopause; some women with early menopause were excluded from the analysis due to an insufficient number of individual WBC measurements.

  3. The ICRP considers that an important target for radiation-induced bone cancer is the endosteum layer of 50 µm adjacent to bone surface, which contains the osteoblast and hematopoietic progenitors [Watchman et al. (2007); Stather JW, ICRP Committee 2 Meeting—November 2003. Report. Available at http://www.euradnews.org/storyfiles/10088.0.report.pdf, last accessed on June 29, 2009]. Obviously, the dose absorbed in the 50-µm endosteum layer will be lower than in the 10-µm layer and higher than the dose absorbed in the RBM. However, the corresponding recommendations and dose coefficients have not been published yet.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been partially funded by the US Department of Energy’s Office of International Health Studies and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research Grant 04-04-96085. We thank the now deceased Dr. Olga V. Vyushkova (URCRM) for her analysis of morbidity in the studied population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine, Vorovskogo 68a, 454076, Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation

    Evgenia I. Tolstykh, Natalia B. Shagina & Marina O. Degteva

  2. Radiobiology Division, Department of Radiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Lynn R. Anspaugh

  3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA

    Bruce A. Napier

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  1. Evgenia I. Tolstykh
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  2. Natalia B. Shagina
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  3. Marina O. Degteva
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  5. Bruce A. Napier
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Correspondence to Evgenia I. Tolstykh.

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Tolstykh, E.I., Shagina, N.B., Degteva, M.O. et al. Does the cortical bone resorption rate change due to 90Sr-radiation exposure? Analysis of data from Techa Riverside residents. Radiat Environ Biophys 50, 417–430 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-011-0363-z

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