Individual Radiation Exposure Dose Due to Support Activities at Safe Shelters in Fukushima Prefecture

Immediately after the accidents in the nuclear power stations in Fukushima on March 11, the Japanese Government ordered the evacuation of the residents within a 20-km radius from the station on March 12, and asked various institutions to monitor the contamination levels of the residents. Hirosaki University, which is located 355 km north of Fukushima City, decided to send support staff to Fukushima. This report summarizes the results of the exposure of 13 individual teams from March 15 to June 20. The support teams surveyed more than 5,000 people during this period. Almost all subjects had external contamination levels of less than 13 kcpm on Geiger-Müller (GM) survey meter, which is categorized as “no contamination level.” The 1st team showed the highest external exposure dose, but the 4th team onward showed no significant change. Subsequently, the internal radiation exposure was measured using a whole body counter that indicated undetectable levels in all staff members. Although the measured external radiation exposure dose cannot have serious biological effects on the health of an individual, a follow-up study of the residents in Fukushima and other regions where the radioactive material has spread will be required for a long time

Radiation dose reduction efficiency of buildings after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

Numerous radionuclides were released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (F1-NPS) in Japan following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Local residents have been eager to calculate their individual radiation exposure. Thus, absorbed dose rates in the indoor and outdoor air at evacuation sites in the Fukushima Prefecture were measured using a gamma-ray measuring devices, and individual radiation exposure was calculated by assessing the radiation dose reduction efficiency (defined as the ratio of absorbed dose rate in the indoor air to the absorbed dose rate in the outdoor air) of wood, aluminum, and reinforced concrete buildings. Between March 2011 and July 2011, dose reduction efficiencies of wood, aluminum, and reinforced concrete buildings were 0.55 ± 0.04, 0.15 ± 0.02, and 0.19 ± 0.04, respectively. The reduction efficiency of wood structures was 1.4 times higher than that reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The efficiency of reinforced concrete was similar to previously reported values, whereas that of aluminum structures has not been previously reported. Dose reduction efficiency increased in proportion to the distance from F1-NPS at 8 of the 18 evacuation sites. Time variations did not reflect dose reduction efficiencies at evacuation sites although absorbed dose rates in the outdoor air decreased. These data suggest that dose reduction efficiency depends on structure types, levels of contamination, and evacuee behaviors at evacuation sites

Characteristics of myeloid differentiation and maturation pathway derived from human hematopoietic stem cells exposed to different linear energy transfer radiation types.

Exposure of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) to ionizing radiation causes a marked suppression of mature functional blood cell production in a linear energy transfer (LET)- and/or dose-dependent manner. However, little information about LET effects on the proliferation and differentiation of HSPCs has been reported. With the aim of characterizing the effects of different types of LET radiations on human myeloid hematopoiesis, in vitro hematopoiesis in Human CD34(+) cells exposed to carbon-ion beams or X-rays was compared. Highly purified CD34(+) cells exposed to each form of radiation were plated onto semi-solid culture for a myeloid progenitor assay. The surviving fractions of total myeloid progenitors, colony-forming cells (CFC), exposed to carbon-ion beams were significantly lower than of those exposed to X-rays, indicating that CFCs are more sensitive to carbon-ion beams (D(0) = 0.65) than to X-rays (D(0) = 1.07). Similar sensitivities were observed in granulocyte-macrophage and erythroid progenitors, respectively. However, the sensitivities of mixed-type progenitors to both radiation types were similar. In liquid culture for 14 days, no significant difference in total numbers of mononuclear cells was observed between non-irradiated control culture and cells exposed to 0.5 Gy X-rays, whereas 0.5 Gy carbon-ion beams suppressed cell proliferation to 4.9% of the control, a level similar to that for cells exposed to 1.5 Gy X-rays. Cell surface antigens associated with terminal maturation, such as CD13, CD14, and CD15, on harvest from the culture of X-ray-exposed cells were almost the same as those from the non-irradiated control culture. X-rays increased the CD235a(+) erythroid-related fraction, whereas carbon-ion beams increased the CD34(+)CD38(-) primitive cell fraction and the CD13(+)CD14(+/-)CD15(-) fraction. These results suggest that carbon-ion beams inflict severe damage on the clonal growth of myeloid HSPCs, although the intensity of cell surface antigen expression by mature myeloid cells derived from HSPCs exposed to each type of radiation was similar to that by controls

Regulation of DNA damage response and cell cycle in radiation-resistant HL60 myeloid leukemia cells.

The acquisition of resistance to radiation has been a matter of concern in clinical cases. However, mechanisms underlying the acquisition of radiation resistance are yet to be elucidated. We established a radiation-resistant strain (Res-HL60 cells) from HL60 leukemic cells and investigated their response to radiation. Res-HL60 cells not only proliferated on the fifth day after radiation but also had a high survival rate in a clonogenic assay. Although Chk1 was activated in HL60 cells after irradiation, the expression levels of Chk1 in Res-HL60 cells decreased. There were few differences between the two cell lines with regard to Chk2 activity. Res-HL60 cells show prolonged G2/M arrest and an early decrease in the extent of DNA damage. However, inhibitors against ATM/ATR and DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) both abrogated the radiation resistance capacity of the cells. These results reveal that radiation-resistant strains have a high repair capacity, and inhibition of the repair system at an early stage is an effective strategy in the second round of radiation therapy

Terminal maturation of megakaryocytes and platelet production by hematopoietic stem cells irradiated with heavy-ion beams

Hematopoietic processes, especially megakaryocytopoiesis and thrombopoiesis, are highly sensitive to high-linear energy transfer (LET) radiations such as heavy-ion beams that have greater biological effects than low-LET radiation. This study examined the terminal maturation of megakaryocytes and platelet production derived from hematopoietic stem cells irradiated with heavy-ion beams. CD34+ cells derived from human placental/umbilical cord blood were exposed to monoenergetic carbon-ion beams (LET = 50 keV/um) and then cultured in a serum-free medium supplemented with thrombopoietin and interleukin-3. There was no significant difference in megakaryocyte-specific markers between nonirradiated control and irradiated cells. Expression of Tie-2, a receptor that acts in early hematopoiesis, showed a significant 1.31-fold increase after 2 Gy irradiation compared to control cells on day 7. There was a significant increase in Tie-2 mRNA expression. In addition, the expression of other mRNAs, such as PECAM1, SELP and CD44, was also significantly increased in cells irradiated with heavy-ion beams. However, the adherent function of platelets derived from the irradiated cells showed no difference from that in the controls. These results clarify that the functions of megakaryocytopoiesis and thrombopoiesis derived from hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells irradiated with heavy-ion beams are similar to those in the unirradiated cells, although heavy-ion beams affect the expression of genes associated with cellular adhesion

Severe damage of human megakaryocytopoiesis and thrombopoiesis by heavy-ion beam radiation

Heavy ions have a unique efficacy for tumor control in radiotherapy. To clarifythe effects of heavy-ion beams on hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, theeffects of carbon-ion beams on megakaryocytopoiesis and thrombopoiesis in CD34(+)cells derived from human placental and umbilical cord blood were investigated.The cells were exposed to carbon-ion beams (LET = 50 keV/microm) and then weretreated with thrombopoietin (TPO) alone or TPO plus other cytokines.Megakaryocytic progenitor cells, such as megakaryocyte colony-forming units(CFU-Meg), were far more sensitive to carbon-ion beams than to X rays, and norestoration of carbon-ion beam-irradiated CFU-Meg by treatment with any cytokine combination was observed. However, total cell expansion in liquid culture was notdifferent after either carbon-ion beam or X irradiation of CD34(+) cells. Theactivation of gamma-H2AX, a marker of DNA double strand-breaks (DSBs), waspromoted by the cytokine treatment in X-irradiated CD34(+) cells but not incarbon-ion-irradiated cells. These results showed that carbon-ion beams inflictedsevere damage on megakaryocytopoiesis and thrombopoiesis and that a bettercombination of cytokines and other agents may be needed to stimulate the recoveryof hematopoietic cells and repair this damage

Prediction of hub genes and key pathways associated with the radiation response of human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells using integrated bioinformatics methods

Abstract Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are indispensable for the maintenance of the entire blood program through cytokine response. However, HSCs have high radiosensitivity, which is often a problem during radiation therapy and nuclear accidents. Although our previous study has reported that the combination cytokine treatment (interleukin-3, stem cell factor, and thrombopoietin) improves the survival of human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) after radiation, the mechanism by which cytokines contribute to the survival of HSPCs is largely unclear. To address this issue, the present study characterized the effect of cytokines on the radiation-induced gene expression profile of human CD34+ HSPCs and explored the hub genes that play key pathways associated with the radiation response using a cDNA microarray, a protein–protein interaction-MCODE module analysis and Cytohubba plugin tool in Cytoscape. This study identified 2,733 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and five hub genes (TOP2A, EZH2, HSPA8, GART, HDAC1) in response to radiation in only the presence of cytokines. Furthermore, functional enrichment analysis found that hub genes and top DEGs based on fold change were enriched in the chromosome organization and organelle organization. The present findings may help predict the radiation response and improve our understanding of this response of human HSPCs