[ RadSafe ] o.4 Sv extra radiation over 10 years may protect from much teratogenesis

[James Salsman]

Dear Dr. Cedervall,

Thank you for your request:

> Now, I doubt that I heard of a teratogen that gave heritable _effects_ (good or bad) so please give me the reference(s).

I just posted them here:
http://lists.radlab.nl/pipermail/radsafe/2008-July/010491.html

In particular here:

"Martin el al (1991) reported that levels of chromosomal aberration,
sister chromatid exchange, and dicentrics measured in nuclear fuel
workers increase proportionally with uranium exposure. McDairmid et al
(2004), in their 10-year follow-up of 39 veterans exposed to DU in
friendly fire incidents during the 1991 Gulf war, reported that the
study participants exposed to the highest levels of DU showed a
statistically significant increase in chromosomal aberrations as
compared with low-exposure groups.

"Pellmar et al (1999) ... the kidneys adapted to the high levels [of
DU from pellets implanted in rats' muscles] during chromic exposure.

"Neuman and colleagues (1948) [found that] uranium has a high affinity
to bone.... young growing rats or rats deficient in dietary calcium
incorporated greater amounts of uranium than did the controls" (which
can support delayed action, as seen in 1991-1998 Iraq.)

"The neurophysiological effect of uranium exposure has been under
investigation for many decades.... in frogs, uranyl ions potentiate
the twitch response of ... muscles.

"Pellmar et al (1999) demonstrated that DU crosses the blood brain
barrier and accumulates in the hippocampus, causing
electrophysiological changes for up to 18 months post-exposure.
Briner and Murray (2005) tested behavioral effects and brain lipid
peroxidation.... Open-field behavior was altered [as soon as] 2 weeks
of exposure [in males] and female rats demonstrated behaviorial
changes after six months of exposure.... Barber et al (2005) ... found
that uranium content in all areas of the brain tested increased
rapidly after injection and remained elevated....

"In exposure scenarios including exposure to DU, the observation that
the chemical toxic effects from uranium compounds ... occur at
exposure levels lower than those causing radiological toxicity effects
is thought to be true for reproductive effects as well.

"The BEIR IV report (1988) ... cautions against minimizing the risk
until more studies become available."

"Miller et al (1998) observed the transformation of human osteoblast
cells to a tumorigenic phenotype after exposure to uranyl chloride....
The DU-treated cells also demonstrated anchorage-independent growth,
increased levels of the of the k-ras oncogene, and decreased levels of
the Rb tumor suppressor protein... the transformed cells formed tumors
in nude mice.

"Whereas studies using rat models showed that DU causes solid-state
induction of solid tumors.... 76% of all mice implanted with DU
pellets ... developed leukemia [in 200 days, after injection with
murine hematopoietic cells.] In contrast, only 10% of control mice
developed leukemia.

-- the above is from Alexandria C. Miller and David McClain (2007) "A
Review of Depleted Uranium Biological Effects: In Vitro and In Vivo
Studies" Rev Environ Health 22(1) 75-89.

James Salsman