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Cytogenetic biomonitoring of inhabitants of a large uranium mineralization area: the municipalities of Monte Alegre, Prainha, and Alenquer, in the State of Pará, Brazil

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Abstract

Uranium is a natural radioactive metallic element; its effect on the organism is cumulative, and chronic exposure to this element can induce carcinogenesis. Three cities of the Amazon region—Monte Alegre, Prainha, and Alenquer—in North Brazil, are located in one of the largest uranium mineralization areas of the world. Radon is a radioactive gas, part of uranium decay series and readily diffuses through rock. In Monte Alegre, most of the houses are built of rocks removed from the Earth’s crust in the forest, where the uranium reserves lie. The objective of the present work is to determine the presence or absence of genotoxicity and risk of carcinogenesis induced by natural exposure to uranium and radon in the populations of these three cities. The frequency of micronuclei (MN) and chromosomal aberrations (CA) showed no statistically significant differences between the control population and the three study populations (P > 0.05). MN was also analyzed using the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique, with a centromere-specific probe. No clastogenic and/or aneugenic effects were found in the populations. Using FISH analysis, other carcinogenesis biomarkers were analyzed, but neither the presence of the IGH/BCL2 translocation nor an amplification of the MYC gene and 22q21 region was detected. Clastogenicity and DNA damage were also not found in the populations analyzed using the alkaline comet assay. The mitotic index showed no cytotoxicity in the analyzed individuals’ lymphocytes. Once we do not have data concerning radiation doses from other sources, such as cosmic rays, potassium, thorium, or anthropogenic sources, it is hard to determine if uranium emissions in this geographic region where our study population lives are too low to cause significant DNA damage. Regardless, genetic analyses suggest that the radiation in our study area is not high enough to induce DNA alterations or to interfere with mitotic apparatus formation. It is also possible that damages caused by radiation doses undergo cellular repair.

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Abbreviations

DU:

Depleted uranium

CAs:

Chromosomal aberrations

MN:

Micronuclei

FISH:

Fluorescence in situ hybridization

ALL:

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia

MI:

Mitotic index

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Process 409826/206-5. R. R. Burbano has a PQ-2 fellowship (number 308256/2006-9) granted by CNPq. We would like to thank Dr. Vicente de Paula Melo for the access to his master’s thesis.

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  1. Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil

    Adriana Costa Guimarães, Helem Ferreira Ribeiro, Ândrea Kelly Ribeiro dos Santos, Plínio Cerqueira dos Santos Cardoso, Patrícia Lima de Lima, Aline Damasceno Seabra, Thaís Brilhante Pontes, Marcelo de Oliveira Bahia & Rommel Rodríguez Burbano

  2. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil

    Claudia Pessoa, Manoel Odorico de Moraes, Bruno Coelho Cavalcanti & Carla Maria Lima Sombra

  3. Department of Clinical, Toxicological, and Bromatological Analysis, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    Lusânia Maria Greggi Antunes

  4. Laboratório de Citogenética Humana, ICB, Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus Universitário do Guamá, Rua Augusto Corrêa 01, CEP 66075-110, Belém, Pará, Brazil

    Rommel Rodríguez Burbano

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Guimarães, A.C., Antunes, L.M.G., Ribeiro, H.F. et al. Cytogenetic biomonitoring of inhabitants of a large uranium mineralization area: the municipalities of Monte Alegre, Prainha, and Alenquer, in the State of Pará, Brazil. Cell Biol Toxicol 26, 403–419 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10565-010-9152-8

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