Nuclear medicine patients do not have higher mutant frequencies after exposure to thallium-201.
The HPRT-lymphocyte clonal assay has been used to detect mutants induced in vivo in humans. This method has previously detected a rise in mutant frequency among nuclear medicine patients following exposure to technetium-99m, at a dose corresponding in theory to 5.1 mGy. In the present study, nuclear medicine patients were sampled before and after exposure to thallium-201, corresponding to a whole-body dose of 4.2 mGy. No rise in mutant frequency was found. We suggest that a difference in the effective dose received by the patients' lymphocytes accounts for the apparent contradiction with earlier results.
Bachand
M
M
Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Quebec à Montréal, Canada.
Seifert
A M
AM
Messing
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009154:Mutation / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes / Q000009:adverse effects*
D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase