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Micro-distribution of uranium in bone after contamination: new insight into its mechanism of accumulation into bone tissue

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Abstract

After internal contamination, uranium rapidly distributes in the body; up to 20 % of the initial dose is retained in the skeleton, where it remains for years. Several studies suggest that uranium has a deleterious effect on the bone cell system, but little is known regarding the mechanisms leading to accumulation of uranium in bone tissue. We have performed synchrotron radiation-based micro-X-ray fluorescence (SR μ-XRF) studies to assess the initial distribution of uranium within cortical and trabecular bones in contaminated rats’ femurs at the micrometer scale. This sensitive technique with high spatial resolution is the only method available that can be successfully applied, given the small amount of uranium in bone tissue. Uranium was found preferentially located in calcifying zones in exposed rats and rapidly accumulates in the endosteal and periosteal area of femoral metaphyses, in calcifying cartilage and in recently formed bone tissue along trabecular bone. Furthermore, specific localized areas with high accumulation of uranium were observed in regions identified as micro-vessels and on bone trabeculae. These observations are of high importance in the study of the accumulation of uranium in bone tissue, as the generally proposed passive chemical sorption on the surface of the inorganic part (apatite) of bone tissue cannot account for these results. Our study opens original perspectives in the field of exogenous metal bio-mineralization.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron facility (DESY, I-20130162 EC & I-20120547 EC projects) and to the ToxNuc program (BiomUrOs project) of the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) for funding this work. J. Garrevoet and P. Tack are funded by a Ph.D. grant of the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT). The SLcam detector was partially funded by the Funds for Scientific Research, Flanders (FWO), Belgium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICSM, LHYS, BP 17171, 30207, Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France

    Damien Bourgeois & Daniel Meyer

  2. INSERM, UMR 1033, 69008, Lyon, France

    Brigitte Burt-Pichat & Georges Boivin

  3. Université de Lyon, 69008, Lyon, France

    Brigitte Burt-Pichat & Georges Boivin

  4. ICSM, L2ME, BP 17171, 30207, Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France

    Xavier Le Goff

  5. X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Group, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281S12, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Jan Garrevoet, Pieter Tack & Laszlo Vincze

  6. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Photon Science, Notkestr. 85, 22603, Hamburg, Germany

    Gerald Falkenberg

  7. UGCT - Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Proeftuinstraat 86, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Luc Van Hoorebeke

  8. Dalton Nuclear Institute, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    Melissa A. Denecke

  9. CEA, IBEB, SBTN, BP 17171, 30207, Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France

    Claude Vidaud

Authors
  1. Damien Bourgeois
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  2. Brigitte Burt-Pichat
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  3. Xavier Le Goff
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  4. Jan Garrevoet
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  5. Pieter Tack
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  6. Gerald Falkenberg
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  7. Luc Van Hoorebeke
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  8. Laszlo Vincze
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  9. Melissa A. Denecke
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  10. Daniel Meyer
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  11. Claude Vidaud
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  12. Georges Boivin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Damien Bourgeois.

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Bourgeois, D., Burt-Pichat, B., Le Goff, X. et al. Micro-distribution of uranium in bone after contamination: new insight into its mechanism of accumulation into bone tissue. Anal Bioanal Chem 407, 6619–6625 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-015-8835-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-015-8835-7

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