Comparative assessment of metabolic processes in children living in the areas affected by the Сhernobyl nuclear power plant accident

Abstract

Objective: We performed a comparative assessment of metabolic processes in the children living for a long time in Polissia and Ivankiv districts of Kyiv oblast, at the territories contaminated with radioactive elements as a result of the accident at the Chornobyl NPP. Materials and methods: We determined a content of 137Cs radionuclides, a content of thyrotropic pituitary hormones, triiodothyronine, thyroxin, homocysteine, vitamins B9, B12 in the blood of the adolescents, and a state of folate metabolism genetic system as well.The immunochemical and mathematical-and-statistical methods were applied. Results: The percentage of the children in the age group under study with 137Cs concentration in the organism over 5 Bq/kg of body weight was 34.1 % in Polissia district and was significantly higher (p<0.05) than in Ivankiv district - 14.4 %. The genome of folate metabolism didn’t have significant differences in the children of both districts. There were no risk alleles of folate metabolism genetic polymorphisms in 3.2 % of the cases in the group of the children from Polissia district and in 1.1 % in the group of the children from Ivankiv district. A level of homocystenia exceeded a physiological criterion (state of hyperhomocysteinemia) in 79.8 % of cases in the group of the children from Polissia district and in 73.2 % of cases in the group of the children from Ivankiv district.A content of folic acid and thyroxine in the blood was significantly lower in the group of children from Polissia district than in Ivankiv district. Conclusions: The poor socio-economic conditions are the reasons for a higher content of radionuclides, hyperhomocysteinemia, disruption of the production of thyroid gland hormones, deficiency of folic acid and vitamin B12 in the children from Polissia district in comparison with the children from Ivankiv district. The incorporation of 137Cs radionuclides in the organism and thyroid gland, and folic acid deficiency can lead to disruption of thyroxine production by the thyroid gland in the children living at the territory contaminated with radionuclides as a result of the accident at the Chornobyl NPP.