Evaluation of cataract formation in fish exposed to environmental radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima

Adélaïde Lerebours; Justyn Regini; Roy A. Quinlan; Toshihiro Wada; Barbara Pierscionek; Martin Devonshire; Alexia A. Kalligeraki; Alice Uwineza; Laura Young; John M. Girkin; Phil Warwick; Kurt Smith; Masato Hoshino; Kentaro Uesugi; Naoto Yagi; Nick Terrill; Olga Shebanova; Tim Snow; Jim T. Smith

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165957

Evaluation of cataract formation in fish exposed to environmental radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima

Adélaïde Lerebours, Justyn Regini, Roy A. Quinlan, Toshihiro Wada, Barbara Pierscionek, Martin Devonshire, Alexia A. Kalligeraki, Alice Uwineza, Laura Young, John M. Girkin, Phil Warwick, Kurt Smith, Masato Hoshino, Kentaro Uesugi, Naoto Yagi, Nick Terrill, Olga Shebanova, Tim Snow, Jim T. Smith

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Abstract

Recent studies apparently finding deleterious effects of radiation exposure on cataract formation in birds and voles living near Chernobyl represent a major challenge to current radiation protection regulations. This study conducted an integrated assessment of radiation exposure on cataractogenesis using the most advanced technologies available to assess the cataract status of lenses extracted from fish caught at both Chernobyl in Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan. It was hypothesised that these novel data would reveal positive correlations between radiation dose and early indicators of cataract formation.

The structure, function and optical properties of lenses were analysed from atomic to millimetre length scales. We measured the short-range order of the lens crystallin proteins using Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) at both the SPring-8 and DIAMOND synchrotrons, the profile of the graded refractive index generated by these proteins, the epithelial cell density and organisation and finally the focal length of each lens.

The results showed no evidence of a difference between the focal length, the epithelial cell densities, the refractive indices, the interference functions and the short-range order of crystallin proteins (X-ray diffraction patterns) in lens from fish exposed to different radiation doses. It could be argued that animals in the natural environment which developed cataract would be more likely, for example, to suffer predation leading to survivor bias. But the cross-length scale study presented here, by evaluating small scale molecular and cellular changes in the lens (pre-cataract formation) significantly mitigates against this issue.

Original language	English
Article number	165957
Number of pages	11
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	902
Early online date	4 Aug 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165957
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2023

Keywords

Radiation
Cataract
Fish
Chernobyl
Fukushima
Radiocaesium
Radiostrontium
Dose
SAXs
UKRI
NERC
NE/L000393/1
EPSRC
EP/M010767/1
EP/I010173/1

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165957

Evaluation of cataract formation in fish exposed to environmental radiation at Chernobyl and FukushimaFinal published version, 2.58 MBLicence: CC BY

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Lerebours, A., Regini, J., Quinlan, R. A., Wada, T., Pierscionek, B., Devonshire, M., Kalligeraki, A. A., Uwineza, A., Young, L., Girkin, J. M., Warwick, P., Smith, K., Hoshino, M., Uesugi, K., Yagi, N., Terrill, N., Shebanova, O., Snow, T., & Smith, J. T. (2023). Evaluation of cataract formation in fish exposed to environmental radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima. Science of the Total Environment, 902, Article 165957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165957

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title = "Evaluation of cataract formation in fish exposed to environmental radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima",

abstract = "Recent studies apparently finding deleterious effects of radiation exposure on cataract formation in birds and voles living near Chernobyl represent a major challenge to current radiation protection regulations. This study conducted an integrated assessment of radiation exposure on cataractogenesis using the most advanced technologies available to assess the cataract status of lenses extracted from fish caught at both Chernobyl in Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan. It was hypothesised that these novel data would reveal positive correlations between radiation dose and early indicators of cataract formation.The structure, function and optical properties of lenses were analysed from atomic to millimetre length scales. We measured the short-range order of the lens crystallin proteins using Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) at both the SPring-8 and DIAMOND synchrotrons, the profile of the graded refractive index generated by these proteins, the epithelial cell density and organisation and finally the focal length of each lens.The results showed no evidence of a difference between the focal length, the epithelial cell densities, the refractive indices, the interference functions and the short-range order of crystallin proteins (X-ray diffraction patterns) in lens from fish exposed to different radiation doses. It could be argued that animals in the natural environment which developed cataract would be more likely, for example, to suffer predation leading to survivor bias. But the cross-length scale study presented here, by evaluating small scale molecular and cellular changes in the lens (pre-cataract formation) significantly mitigates against this issue.",

keywords = "Radiation, Cataract, Fish, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Radiocaesium, Radiostrontium, Dose, SAXs, UKRI, NERC, NE/L000393/1, EPSRC, EP/M010767/1, EP/I010173/1",

author = "Ad{\'e}la{\"i}de Lerebours and Justyn Regini and Quinlan, {Roy A.} and Toshihiro Wada and Barbara Pierscionek and Martin Devonshire and Kalligeraki, {Alexia A.} and Alice Uwineza and Laura Young and Girkin, {John M.} and Phil Warwick and Kurt Smith and Masato Hoshino and Kentaro Uesugi and Naoto Yagi and Nick Terrill and Olga Shebanova and Tim Snow and Smith, {Jim T.}",

year = "2023",

month = dec,

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doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165957",

language = "English",

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journal = "Science of the Total Environment",

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Lerebours, A, Regini, J, Quinlan, RA, Wada, T, Pierscionek, B, Devonshire, M, Kalligeraki, AA, Uwineza, A, Young, L, Girkin, JM, Warwick, P, Smith, K, Hoshino, M, Uesugi, K, Yagi, N, Terrill, N, Shebanova, O, Snow, T & Smith, JT 2023, 'Evaluation of cataract formation in fish exposed to environmental radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 902, 165957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165957

TY - JOUR

T1 - Evaluation of cataract formation in fish exposed to environmental radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima

AU - Lerebours, Adélaïde

AU - Regini, Justyn

AU - Quinlan, Roy A.

AU - Wada, Toshihiro

AU - Pierscionek, Barbara

AU - Devonshire, Martin

AU - Kalligeraki, Alexia A.

AU - Uwineza, Alice

AU - Young, Laura

AU - Girkin, John M.

AU - Warwick, Phil

AU - Smith, Kurt

AU - Hoshino, Masato

AU - Uesugi, Kentaro

AU - Yagi, Naoto

AU - Terrill, Nick

AU - Shebanova, Olga

AU - Snow, Tim

AU - Smith, Jim T.

PY - 2023/12/1

Y1 - 2023/12/1

N2 - Recent studies apparently finding deleterious effects of radiation exposure on cataract formation in birds and voles living near Chernobyl represent a major challenge to current radiation protection regulations. This study conducted an integrated assessment of radiation exposure on cataractogenesis using the most advanced technologies available to assess the cataract status of lenses extracted from fish caught at both Chernobyl in Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan. It was hypothesised that these novel data would reveal positive correlations between radiation dose and early indicators of cataract formation.The structure, function and optical properties of lenses were analysed from atomic to millimetre length scales. We measured the short-range order of the lens crystallin proteins using Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) at both the SPring-8 and DIAMOND synchrotrons, the profile of the graded refractive index generated by these proteins, the epithelial cell density and organisation and finally the focal length of each lens.The results showed no evidence of a difference between the focal length, the epithelial cell densities, the refractive indices, the interference functions and the short-range order of crystallin proteins (X-ray diffraction patterns) in lens from fish exposed to different radiation doses. It could be argued that animals in the natural environment which developed cataract would be more likely, for example, to suffer predation leading to survivor bias. But the cross-length scale study presented here, by evaluating small scale molecular and cellular changes in the lens (pre-cataract formation) significantly mitigates against this issue.

AB - Recent studies apparently finding deleterious effects of radiation exposure on cataract formation in birds and voles living near Chernobyl represent a major challenge to current radiation protection regulations. This study conducted an integrated assessment of radiation exposure on cataractogenesis using the most advanced technologies available to assess the cataract status of lenses extracted from fish caught at both Chernobyl in Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan. It was hypothesised that these novel data would reveal positive correlations between radiation dose and early indicators of cataract formation.The structure, function and optical properties of lenses were analysed from atomic to millimetre length scales. We measured the short-range order of the lens crystallin proteins using Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) at both the SPring-8 and DIAMOND synchrotrons, the profile of the graded refractive index generated by these proteins, the epithelial cell density and organisation and finally the focal length of each lens.The results showed no evidence of a difference between the focal length, the epithelial cell densities, the refractive indices, the interference functions and the short-range order of crystallin proteins (X-ray diffraction patterns) in lens from fish exposed to different radiation doses. It could be argued that animals in the natural environment which developed cataract would be more likely, for example, to suffer predation leading to survivor bias. But the cross-length scale study presented here, by evaluating small scale molecular and cellular changes in the lens (pre-cataract formation) significantly mitigates against this issue.

KW - Radiation

KW - Cataract

KW - Fish

KW - Chernobyl

KW - Fukushima

KW - Radiocaesium

KW - Radiostrontium

KW - Dose

KW - SAXs

KW - UKRI

KW - NERC

KW - NE/L000393/1

KW - EPSRC

KW - EP/M010767/1

KW - EP/I010173/1

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165957

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165957

M3 - Article

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 902

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

M1 - 165957

ER -

Evaluation of cataract formation in fish exposed to environmental radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima

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