Development of serum zinc as a biological dosimeter in mice

Abstract

Purpose: To develop a new biological dosimeter based on serum zinc concentration.

Materials and methods: Male mice (8 weeks old) were exposed to different doses (0, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, or 8.0 Gy) of gamma rays from a ⁶⁰Co source. Blood was then collected from the orbital area of these mice, and the serum zinc concentration was detected using the 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-diethylaminophenol colorimetric method. The data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance.

Results: The serum zinc concentration in the irradiated mice decreased with increasing dose. Two dose-response relationships fitted to the linear quadratic curve were obtained: One immediately after exposure (y = 0.010x² − 0.133x + 0.663, r = 0.983) and the other on the seventh day after exposure (y = 0.008x² − 0.127x + 0.695, r = 0.990). The serum zinc concentration continued to decrease until 21 days after exposure. The absorbed doses estimated using both dose-response relationships were close to the actual doses.

Conclusions: Serum zinc is a quick, effective, and sensitive biomarker for early biological doses assessment of mice irradiated by gamma radiation.

Keywords::

• Biological dosimeter
• serum zinc
• gamma radiation
• mice

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

This work was supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2013CB933904); the Nature Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20131355); and the Jiangsu Innovation Program for Graduate Education (CXLX12-0145).