SEARCH FOR MUTATIONS ALTERING PROTEIN CHARGE AND-OR FUNCTION IN CHILDREN OF ATOMIC-BOMB SURVIVORS - FINAL REPORT

  • 1 May 1988
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 42  (5) , 663-676
Abstract
A sample of (1) chilren whose parents had been proximatelly exposed (i.e., < 2,000 m from the hypocenter) at the time of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and (2) a suitable comparison group have been examined for the occurrence of mutations altering the electrophoretic mobility or activity of a series of 30 proteins. The examination of the equivalent of 667,404 locus products in the children of proximally exposed persons yielded three mutations altering electrophoresis mobility; the corresponding figure for the comparison group was three mutations in 466,881 tests. The examination of a subset of 60,529 locus products for loss of enzyme activity in the children of proximally exposed persons yielded one mutation; no mutations were encounterd in 61,741 determinations on the chilren of the comparison groups. When these two series are compared, the mutation rate observed in the children of proximatlly exposed persons is thus 0.60 .times. 10-5/locus/generation, with 95% confidence intervals between 0.2 and 1.5 .times. 10-5, and that in the comparison children is 0.64 .times. 10-5/locus/generation, with 95% intervals between 0.1 and 1.9 .times. 10-5. The average conjoint gonad doses for the proximally exposed parents are estimated to be 0.437 Gy of gamma radiation and 0.002 Gy of neutron radiation. If a relative biological effectiveness of 20 is assigned to the neuron radiation, the combined total gonad dose for the parents becomes 0.477 Sv. (Organ absorbed doses are expressed in gray [1 Gy = 100 rad]; where dose is a mixture of gamma and neuron radiation, it is necessary because of the differing relative biological effectiveness of gamma and neutron radiation to express the combined gamma-neutron gonad exposures in sieverts [1 Sv = 100 rem]).