title: Methemoglobin-Based Biological Dose Assessment for Human Blood.
abstract: Methemoglobin is an oxidative form of hemoglobin in erythrocytes. The authors' aim was to develop a new biological dosimeter based on a methemoglobin assay. Methemoglobin in peripheral blood (of females or males) that was exposed to a Co source (0.20 Gy min) was quantified using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The dose range was 0.5-8.0 Gy. In a time-course experiment, the time points 0, 0.02, 1, 2, 3, 7, 15, 21, and 30 d after 4-Gy irradiation of heparinized peripheral blood were used. Methemoglobin levels in a lysed erythrocyte pellet from the irradiated blood of females and males increased with the increasing dose. Methemoglobin levels in female blood irradiated with γ-doses more than 4 Gy were significantly higher than those in male samples at the same doses. Two dose-response relations were fitted to the straight line: one is with the correlation coefficient of 0.98 for females, and the other is with the correlation coefficient of 0.99 for males. The lower limit of dose assessment based on methemoglobin is about 1 Gy. Methemoglobin levels in blood as a result of auto-oxidation increase after 7-d storage at -20 °C. The upregulation of methemoglobin induced by γ-radiation persists for ∼3 d. The absorbed doses that were estimated using the two dose-response relations were close to the actual doses. The results suggest that methemoglobin can be used as a rapid and accurate biological dosimeter for early assessment of absorbed γ-dose in human blood.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210006, P.R. China; †Clincal Laboratory, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China; ‡Division of Radiation Medicine, Department of Naval Medicine, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, P.R. China; §Jiangsu Laboratory for Biomaterials and Devices, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiao-Dan
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Su-Ying
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Li-Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Yu-Ji
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: Pei-Dang
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hai-Qian
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005260:Female; D005720:Gamma Rays; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008706:Methemoglobin / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D000069079:Radiation Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008706:Methemoglobin