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Transmission of chromosomal instability after plutonium α-particle irradiation

Nature volume 355, pages 738–740 (1992)Cite this article

Abstract

WHEN investigating the biological effects of ionizing radiation on the haemopoietic system, a confounding problem lies in possible differences between the biological effects of sparsely ionizing, low linear energy transfer radiation such as X-, (β or Γ-rays, and densely ionizing, high linear energy transfer radiation such as α-particles. To address this problem we have developed novel techniques for studying haemopoietic cells irradiated with environmentally relevant doses of α-particles from a plutonium-238 source. Using a clonogenic culture system, cytogenetic aberrations in individual colonies of haemopoietic cells derived from irradiated stem cells have been studied. Exposure to α-particles (but not X-rays) produced a high frequency of non-clonal aberrations in the clonal descendants, compatible with α-emitters inducing lesions in stem cells that result in the transmission of chromosomal instability to their progeny. Such unexpected instability may have important implications for radiation leukaemogenesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Radiobiology Unit, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, 0X11 ORD, UK

    M. A. Kadhim, D. A. Macdonald, D. T. Goodhead, S. A. Lorimore, S. J. Marsden & E. G. Wright

Authors
  1. M. A. Kadhim
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  2. D. A. Macdonald
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  3. D. T. Goodhead
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  4. S. A. Lorimore
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  5. S. J. Marsden
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  6. E. G. Wright
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Kadhim, M., Macdonald, D., Goodhead, D. et al. Transmission of chromosomal instability after plutonium α-particle irradiation. Nature 355, 738–740 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/355738a0

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