A Review of Experimental Animal Radon Health Effects [Book Chapter]

Conference · Sat Nov 16 23:00:00 EST 2013 · Radiation Research A Twentieth-Century Perspective, Volume II: Congress Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-168562-1.50086-0· OSTI ID:5590934

Cross, F. T. ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Abundant epidemiological data from underground miners confirm that radon decay products (progeny) are carcinogenic, although the evidence is less conclusive on the quantitative risks of these exposures, especially for indoor air. The imprecision results principally from differences between exposures in mining and domestic environments and from uncertainties about the interaction between smoking and exposure to radon progeny. Experimental animal studies of radon-induced lung cancer are particularly valuable for understanding the carcinogenicity of human radon exposures in the home and in the workplace. Animals can be exposed to a variety of agents under carefully controlled conditions and then sacrificed for the study of developing lesions or held for their life span for tumor development. The doses to critical cells in the respiratory tract can be determined, and these in turn can be related to doses to critical cells in the respiratory tract of humans exposed to similar aerosols. The study of radon-induced mutations and changes in expression of oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes as well as growth factors and growth factor receptors during tumor progression in animals also provides valuable evidence on the underlying mechanisms of radon carcinogenesis. This evidence, particularly that of the efficiency for oncogenic transformation at low dose rates, is crucial to the determination of the risk of lung cancer from exposure to indoor levels of radon. This review of animal health effects data emphasizes the carcinogenicity of radon exposures in rats; mechanistic data on radon-induced lung tumors in rats are currently sparse and are not reviewed here.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5590934
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA--18989; CONF-9107136--5; ON: DE91016710; ISBN: 978-0-12-168562-1
• Journal Information: Radiation Research A Twentieth-Century Perspective, Volume II: Congress Proceedings, Journal Name: Radiation Research A Twentieth-Century Perspective, Volume II: Congress Proceedings
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560162* -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Animals
Plants
Microorganisms
& Cells
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AEROSOLS
ANIMAL CELLS
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL MODELS
CARCINOGENESIS
COLLOIDS
DAUGHTER PRODUCTS
DISEASES
DISPERSIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
DOSES
ELEMENTS
EPIDEMIOLOGY
FLUIDS
GASES
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
INHALATION
INTAKE
ISOTOPES
MAMMALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEOPLASMS
NONMETALS
PATHOGENESIS
RADIATION DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADON
RARE GASES
RATS
RESIDUES
RESPIRATORY TRACT CELLS
REVIEWS
RISK ASSESSMENT
RODENTS
SMOKES
SOLS
TERATOGENESIS
TOBACCO SMOKES
VERTEBRATES