The state of folate metabolism and its link with thyroid system in children after forest fires in the Chornobyl exclusion zone

Abstract

Objective: We determined the state of folate cycle and its link with thyroid system in the children of the Ukrainian Polissia after forest fires in the Chornobyl exclusion zone. Methods: Immunochemical, mathematical and statistical ones. Results: Blood homocysteine levels were statistically significantly higher in the subgroup of the children who were the carriers of the T risk allele of the MTHFR:С677Т genetic polymorphism living in Ivankovsky and Polessky regions than in the subgroup of the children without this allele. The examination of the children from the regions adjacent to the Chornobyl nuclear power plant allowed to identify in them the metabolic processes’ changes in the form of increased production of Нс due to the forest fires in the exclusion zone. Blood Hc levels were higher in the children from Ivankivskyi region examined after fires in the Chornobyl exclusion zone than in those from Poliskyi region examined before fires, including the majority of genetic subgroups, with the exception of the genetic subgroup which included cases of homozygous carriership of the T allele. Direct links between blood homocysteine and pituitary thyroid-stimulating hormone levels, homocysteine and triiodothyronine levels were detected in the group of the children from Ivankivskyi region who had higher blood homocysteine concentrations compared to the group of children from Polisskyi region. Сonclusions: It can be reasonably assumed that fires in the Chornobyl exclusion zone have a negative effect on the functioning of folate metabolism in a child’s organism.