Chemical and Toxicological Analysis of Territories Affected by Radiation and Chemical Pollutants: III. Peroxide Oxidation of Lipids and Toxicity Effects of Natural Water (in vivo Studies)

The toxic properties of river water and groundwater samples taken in the Zhizdrinskii and Ul'yanovskii districts of the Kaluga Oblast, which were the areas most exposed to long-lived radioisotopes in consequence of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, are studied using bioassay methods based on an analysis of the cumulative effect of toxic substances that are present in the analyzed water sample on the lipid peroxidation (LPO) processes. The concentrations of LPO products and extracellular DNA in the blood plasma of mice, the frequency of chromosomal aberrations in bone marrow cells of mice, the antioxidant status of mouse tissues, and the total number of alterations in the structure of DNA molecules of mouse blood lymphocytes, as estimated based on the value of the relative rate constant of alkaline elution, are determined in in vivo experiments with a single per os administration of hexane-ether extracts from drinking water to experimental animals. The concentration of LPO products in native water samples is determined in the in vitro experiments using LPO liposomes obtained from lecithin, i.e., egg yolk phospholipid, as a model test system. The total set of the obtained data indicates the presence of a relationship between the parameters of the LPO control system and DNA damage and makes it possible to propose a method for the initiated oxidation of liposomes produced from lecithin that can be used in the initial assessment of the intensity of LPO in an aqueous medium.