[The characteristics of the prenatal morphogenesis of human lungs in the area of the action of the radiation factors after the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station]. / Osobennosti prenatal'nogo morfogeneza legkikh cheloveka v zone deistviia radiatsionnykh faktorov posle avarii na ChAES.

ABSTRACT

The effects of irradiation at low doses on prenatal development were studied using the abortion materials from the controlled zones of Bryansk Province, Russia. A possibility of transplacental transition of some radionuclides (90Sr and 137Cs) was shown, as well as appearance of their traces in tissues of some fetuses starting from the second trimester of pregnancy. The presence of radionuclides in the muscle and bones was combined in some cases with teratogenic effects, including lung hypoplasia. Reliable delay of the bronchi branching according to the morphometry of lung histological sections was found in the offspring of irradiated mothers during the first trimester of pregnancy, thus suggesting disturbed prenatal morphogenesis of the lungs. Lung hypoplasia was sometimes noted during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. The lymphoid cells of the lungs in fetuses were activated and a trend was found to enhanced extravascular local erythroid hemopoiesis. This is considered by the authors as compensatory-adaptive cellular reactions in the respiratory organs to tissue hypoxia and antigenic stimuli from the irradiated maternal organism.