Understanding Uranium Toxicity

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 4125

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba, Japan
Interests: uranium; biometals; toxicology; SR-XRF; PIXE; imaging
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue “Understanding Uranium Toxicity” will cover the toxicological studies of uranium, from the fundamental to applied sciences, including analytical methodology, biochemistry, molecular biology, animal studies, in vitro assays, radiation sciences, environmental sciences, and epidemiological studies. Hope this Special Issue sets the stage for transdisciplinary toxicology for uranium.

Dr. Shino Homma-Takeda
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • uranium
  • actinide
  • toxicology
  • toxicokinetics
  • radiation sciences
  • decorporation
  • environmental sciences
  • speciation
  • imaging

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 5883 KiB  
Article
Single-Cell Imaging for Studies of Renal Uranium Transport and Intracellular Behavior
by Shino Homma-Takeda, Hitomi Fujishiro, Izumi Tanaka, Haruko Yakumaru, Kyoko Ayama, Akihiro Uehara, Masakazu Oikawa, Seiichiro Himeno and Hiroshi Ishihara
Minerals 2021, 11(2), 191; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11020191 - 12 Feb 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1730
Abstract
Nephrotoxicity is the primary health effect of uranium exposure. However, the renal transport and intracellular behavior of uranium remains to be clearly elucidated. In the present study, the intracellular uranium distribution was examined with the cell lines derived from the S3 segment of [...] Read more.
Nephrotoxicity is the primary health effect of uranium exposure. However, the renal transport and intracellular behavior of uranium remains to be clearly elucidated. In the present study, the intracellular uranium distribution was examined with the cell lines derived from the S3 segment of mouse renal proximal tubules, which is a toxic target site of uranium, using microbeam-based elemental analysis. Uranium exposure at 100 μM for 24 h (non-toxic phase) was performed in S3 cells. Two types of measurement specimens, including those that are adhesive cell specimens and cryosection specimens, were examined for the positional relationship of the intracellular localization of uranium. Based on the combined results of single-cell imaging from the two types of cell specimens, uranium was distributed inside the cell and localized in the cytoplasm near the cell nucleus. In some cells, uranium was colocalized with phosphorus and potassium. The amount of uranium accumulated in S3 cells was estimated using thin section-standards. The mean uranium content of three adhesive cells was hundreds of femtogram per cell. Thus, we believe that single-cell imaging would be useful for studies on renal uranium transportation and cellular behavior. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Understanding Uranium Toxicity)
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10 pages, 3220 KiB  
Article
Quantitative Analyses of Urinary Uranium by µ-PIXE
by Akihiro Uehara, Masakazu Oikawa, Izumi Tanaka, Hiroshi Ishihara and Shino Homma-Takeda
Minerals 2021, 11(2), 147; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11020147 - 31 Jan 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1817
Abstract
Simple methods for the determination of elements in biological fluids have been developed. It is important to quantify the accidental incorporation of radionuclides during the decommissioning work at nuclear power plants. Herein, we proposed the simple preparations and determination methods of uranium concentrations [...] Read more.
Simple methods for the determination of elements in biological fluids have been developed. It is important to quantify the accidental incorporation of radionuclides during the decommissioning work at nuclear power plants. Herein, we proposed the simple preparations and determination methods of uranium concentrations in urine for microbeam scanning particle induced X-ray emission (µ-PIXE) analysis in a rat model. A droplet (1 µL) of mixed solution of urine treated with a five-fold amount of concentrated nitric acid was placed on polypropylene film coated with perfluoroalkoxy alkanes (PFA) and dried at room temperature. The µ-PIXE imaging analysis revealed that successful condensation with homogeneous distribution of uranium in the specimen was achieved using by PFA coating. Uranium concentrations in the urine collected from uranium-injected rats were quantified. The obtained results were consistent with those determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Understanding Uranium Toxicity)
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