6th ESACP Congress, Heidelberg, April 7-11, 1999

A103
MORPHO-FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF ERYTHROID SYSTEM OF THE CHERNOBYL CLEAN-UP WORKERS FROM LATIVIA
Mazarevica G, Leice A, Auce Z, Freivalds T, Bruvere R

University of Lativia: Faculty of Physics, Faculty of Biology, Lativian Institute of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Biomedical Research and Study Centre. University of Lativia Laboratory of Holography, Riga, Latvia

Peripheral blood erythrocytes (RBC) are known to have a rather high radio- resistance. Nevertheless, various changes of RBC morpho-functional properties, have been detected in people exposed even to low doses of ionising radiation. Most of them are believed due to generation of somatic cell mutations in erythroid progenitors within the bone marrow. In this study RBC were investigated by using newly elaborated method for morpho-functional evaluation of separate erythrocytes based on erythrocyte refractive index properties at different pH values together with scoring micronuclei in RBC for the evaluation of the genotoxicity. 20,000 RBC per individual were scored. Subjects of this study were residents of Latvia who have been working in Chernobyl during 1986. Laboratory tests revealed decreased number of RBC and hematocrit in 25% of Chernobyl clean-up workers versus 9.6% and 3% respectively in non-exposed Latvian population (control) and increased mean cell haemoglobin concentration in 50.1% versus 9.6% in control . Our data showed evident deviation of the refractive index along with its maximum shift to the basic pH end of the erythrocytes of Chernobyl clean-up workers when compared with those of people having no professional contacts with radioactivity.