Brain accumulation of depleted uranium in rats following 3- or 6-month treatment with implanted depleted uranium pellets |
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Authors: | Vanessa A Fitsanakis Keith M Erikson Stephanie J Garcia Lars Evje Tore Syversen Michael Aschner |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN;(2) Department of Nutrition, UNC-Greensboro, Greensboro, NC;(3) Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC;(4) Department of Neuromedicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway;(5) The Kennedy Center for Neuroscience Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN |
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Abstract: | Depleted uranium (DU) is used to reinforce armor shielding and increase penetrability of military munitions. Although the
data are conflicting, DU has been invoked as a potential etiological factor in Gulf War syndrome. We examined regional brain
DU accumulation following surgical implantation of metal pellets in male Sprague-Dawley rats for 3 or 6 mo. Prior to surgery,
rats were randomly divided into five groups: Nonsurgical control (NS Control); 0 DU pellets/20 tantalum (Ta) pellets (Sham);
4 DU pellets/16 Ta pellets (Low); 10 DU pellets/10 Ta pellets (Medium); 20 DU pellets/0 Ta pellets (High). Rats were weighed
weekly as a measure of general health, with no statistically significant differences observed among groups in either cohort.
At the conclusion of the respective studies, animals were perfused with phosphate-buffered saline, pH 7.4, to prevent contamination
of brain tissue with DU from blood. Brains were removed and dissected into six regions: cerebellum, brainstem (pons and medulla),
midbrain, hippocampus, striatum, and cortex. The uranium content was measured in digested samples as its 238U isotope by high-resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. After 3 mo postimplantation, DU significantly accumulated
in all brain regions except the hippocampus in animals receiving the highest dose of DU (p<0.05). By 6 mo, however, significant accumulation was measured only in the cortex, midbrain, and cerebellum (p<0.01). Our data suggest that DU implanted in peripheral tissues can preferentially accumulate in specific brain regions. |
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Keywords: | Depleted uranium heavy metal toxicity Gulf War syndrome blood-brain barrier transport ICP-MS |
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