title: Nuclear medicine patients do not have higher mutant frequencies after exposure to thallium-201.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Quebec à Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bachand
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Seifert
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Messing
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase