Problems of Radiation Medicine and Radiobiology

N. A. Pomortseva, D. І. Gudkov

Institute of Hydrobiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 12 Heroiv Stalinhradu Ave., Kyiv, 04210, Ukraine

EFFECT OF ADDITIONAL ACUTE IRRADIATION ON CYTOMORPHOLOGICAL ABNORMALITIES OF ERYTHROCYTES OF THE PRUSSIAN CARP (CARASSIUS GIBELIO BLOCH) FROM WATER BODY CONTAMINATED WITH RADIONUCLIDES

Objective. Assessment of the effect of additional acute irradiation (AAI) in sub-lethal range on the peculiarities of formation of qualitative composition of red blood and adaptive possibilities of the hematopoietic system of fish in reservoirs within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), contaminated with radionuclides.
Materials and methods. We studied the Prussian carp Carassius gibelio Bloch (2–3 years old) from Vershyna Lake (impacted reservoir in the CEZ) and Dibrova Lake (reference reservoir), where the average absorbed dose rate (ADR) was, respectively, 110.80 and 0.07 μGy/h. The fish were exposed by a single X-ray dose at the unit RUM-17 (ADR – 0.89 Gy/min) at dose of 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 Gy. Morphological and cytogenetic studies of red blood cells were performed dynamically for the 1^st, 7^th and 30^th day after irradiation. The blood was taken from the tail vein and stained by Pappenheim’s method. Cytomorphological abnormalities of erythrocytes were analyzed for 3000 cells (‰).
Results. In blood of fish from the impacted reservoir (Vershyna Lake) on the 1^st day after AAI, the average number of all types of deformations of erythrocytes cells increased in 2.1 times, and in fish of the reference reservoir (Dibrova Lake) – in 5.2 times. General spectrum of erythrocyte disturbances in fish of Vershyna Lake has increased from 4 to 6 types (in 1.5 times), and Dibrova Lake – from 2 to 5 types (in 2.5 times). However, further observations of the dynamics of morphological disorders of fish’s blood cells from Vershyna Lake on the 7th and the 30th day after AAI showed a significant increase in pathological processes in comparison with the reference reservoir, namely – an increase in the number of gross damage of DNA molecules – amitosis (on average in 14.8 times), erythrocytes with septum in the nucleus (in 1.9 times), as well as structural disorders in the cells – protuberances (in 10.5 times), cells with vacuolate cytoplasm (in 8.6 times).
Conclusions. The red blood cells of the fish of the impacted reservoir show a greater vulnerability to AAI, which manifests itself in an increase in the number of erythrocytes with pathology of mitosis and may indicate a violation of the genetic structures of cells due to long-term radiation exposure.
Key words: Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, radioactive contamination, fish, peripheral blood, additional acute irradiation, morphological disorders of red blood cells.

Problems of Radiation Medicine and Radiobiology.
2019;24:270-283. doi: 10.33145/2304-8336-2019-24-270-283

full text

1. Shekhanova IA. [Radioecology of fish]. Moscow: Light and food industry; 1983. 208 p. Russian.

2. Ryabov IN. [Radioecology of fish of ponds in the zone of influence of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident: based on the materials of expeditionary research]. Moscow: Soc. Sci. Ed. KMK; 2004. 216 p. Russian.

3. Romanenko VD, Gudkov DI, Volkova YeN, Kuzmenko MI. Radioecological problems of aquatic ecosystems: 25 years after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station. Hydrobiological Journal. 2011;47(4):3-23. DOI: 10.1615/HydrobJ.v47.i4.10.

4. Gudkov DI, Kuzmenko MI, Kireev SI, Nazarov AB, Shevtsova NL, Dzyubenko EN, Kaglyan AE. Radioecological problems of aquatic ecosystems of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Biophysics. 2010;55(2):332-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0006350910020272.

5. Gudkov DI, Shevtsova NL, Pomortseva NA, Dzyubenko EV, Kaglyan AE, Nazarov AB. [Radiation-induced cytogenetic and hematologic effects on aquatic biota within the Chernobyl exclusion zone]. J Environ Radioact. 2016a;151:438-48. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2015.09.004.

6. Bond VP. [Basics of Radiobiology, necessary for understanding the effect of ionizing radiation on blood formation]. In: [Manual of Radiation Hematology (Joint publication of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization)]. Moscow: Medicine; 1974. p. 63-70. Russian.

7. Ingram M. [Hematological basis for assessing the degree of radiation damage. Low doses, chronic exposure and long-term effects]. In: Manual of Radiation Hematology (Joint publication of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization)]. Moscow: Medicine; 1974. p. 221-30. Russian.

8. Shleifer GS, Shekhanova IA. [The influence of ionizing radiation on some factors of fish immunity]. In: [Radioecology of animals]. Moscow: Science; 1977. 93-4. Russian.

9. Al-Sabti K, Metcalfe CD. [Fish micronuclei for assessing genotoxicity in water]. Mutat Res. 1995;343:121-35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-1218(95)90078-0.

10. Smagin AI, Lugas'kova NV, Smaller TB. [Cytogenetic study of fish from the reservoir of waste storage of the PE “MAYAK”]. Problems of radioecology and border disciplines. 2005;(7):97-118. Russian.

11. Anbumani S, Mohankumar MN. Gamma radiation induced micronuclei and erythrocyte cellular abnormalities in the fish Catla catla. Aquat Toxicol. 2012;122-123:125-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquatox.2012.06.001

12. Pryakhin EA, Tryapitsyna GA, Styazkina EV, Shaposhnikova IA, Osipov DI, Akleyev AV [Evaluation of the level of erythrocyte pathology in peripheral blood of the roach (Rutilus rutilus L.) from reservoirs with different levels of radioactive contamination]. Radiatsionnaia biologiia, radioecologiia / Rossii?skaia akademiia nauk. 2012;52(6):616-24. Russian.

13. Mikryakov VR, Gudkov DI, Mikryakov DV, Pomortseva NL, Balabanova LV. Comparative characteristics of leucocytes compositions in the crucian carp Carassius carassius (Cyprinidae) from the waterbodies of the Chernobyl exclusion zone and from the Rybinsk reservoir. J Ichthyol. 2013;53(9):753-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0032945213060076.

14. Styazhkina, EV. [Genotoxic effects in the blood cells of the roach (Rutilus rutilus L.) from the ponds with different levels of radioactive contamination] [the dissertation author’s abstract]. Moscow; 2014. 24 p. Russian.

15. Gudkov DI, Shevtsova NL, Pomortseva NA, Dzyubenko EV, Yavnyuk AA, Kaglyan AYe, Nazarov AB. Aquatic plants and animals in the Chernobyl exclusion zone: effects of long-term radiation exposure on different levels of biological organization. In: Korogodina V., Mothersill C., Inge-Vechtomov S., Seymour C., editors. Genetics, Evolution and Radiation. Cham: Springer Int. Pub.; 2016b. p. 287-302.

16. Pelevina II, Afanasyev GG, Gotlib VYa, Alferovich AA, Antoshchina MM, Ryabchenko NI, Saenko AS, Ryabtsev IA, Ryabov IN. [Exposure of cells in tissue culture and animals (mice) in the 10-kilometer zone of the Chernobyl NPP accident. Impact on sensitivity to subsequent exposure]. Radiatsionnaia biologiia, radioecologiia / Rossii?skaia akademiia nauk. 1993;33;1(4):508-20. Russian.

17. Davydov ON, Temnikhanov YuD, Kurovskaya LYa. [Pathology of the blood of fish]. Kiev: Inkos; 2005. 212 p. Russian.

18. Lakin GF. [Biometrics]. 4th ed. Moscow: Highest school; 1973. 343 p. Russian.

19. Bolshov LN, Smirnov NV. [Tables of mathematical statistics]. Moscow: Science. Main edition of the physical and mathematical literature; 1983. 416 p. Russian.

20. Zhiteneva LD, Poltavtseva TG, Rudnitskaya OA. [Atlas of normal and pathologically altered fish blood cells]. Rostov-on-Don: Book ed.; 1989. 112 p. Russian.

21. Zherbin EA, Chukhlovin AB. [Radiation hematology]. Moscow: Medicine; 1989. 176 p. Russian.

22. Petrovich IK. [Changes in the blood picture of animals in the long-term period after input administration of radioactive substances into the body. The effect of radioactive strontium on living organism]. Moscow: Medgiz; 1961: 104-19. Russian.