37

mass and/or total blood volume with total body
weight used as a base line. During the 1963 survey,
similar studies were performed on 21 Marshall

Rongelap as result of their fallout radiation ex-

posure. Attempts at 8 and 9 years post exposure

to obtain suitable blood cultures had not been
entirely successful. However, during the 10-year
survey a slight modification of the Moorehead
technique’’ resulted in a series of satisfactory
cultures on 51 people: 30 in the higher exposure
group (175 rads), 13 in the lower exposure group
(69 rads) and 8 from the unexposed Rongelapese
who were on another island at the time of the
accident. The detailed results of these studies are
presented in Appendix 1I4.*

Islanders, but these data were related to total

body water as determined by tritiated water.’®
Results showed that in all instances but one the
values for red cell mass and total blood volumefell
below normallevels for persons living in temperate
zones of the United States.
The present study was undertaken during the
surveys in 1965 and 1966. A total of 19 Caucasian
Americans (3 females and 16 males) living in the
Marshall Islands for periods of 3 monthsto 9 years

Table 25 summarizes the results. A higher in-

were examined by the sametechniques.* There-

cidence of aneuploid cells was noted in the exposed
group, but the difference was not great enoughto
be significant. Unexpectedly, the lower exposure

sults of these studies on each individual are presented in Appendix 15, along with data on the 21
Marshallese in whom these studies were carried
out in 1963. The data were programmed and
analyzed by a high speed digital computer. Regression lines obtained for the Caucasians and the
Marshallese are presented in Figure 67 along with
regression lines of Moore" and Siri‘ for Americans.
The Marshallese regression lines for both blood
volume and red cell colume have very nearly the
same slopes as the lines of the Siri and Moore
groups, but they are significantly below thelatter
(significant at the 1% level). The Caucasiansliving
in the Marshall Islands also show regression lines
for blood volume andred blood cell volume with

group showed more aberrations than did the more

heavily exposed group, andthe latter group showed
even less aberrations than the unexposed. However, the incidence of 2-hit aberrations was significantly higher ( p <0.00+4) in the exposed groups
and did appear to be radiation induced. Figure
66 shows a dicentric and a ring form noted in
chromosomespreads from two exposed individuals.
OTHER LABORATORY STUDIES
Total Blood Volume and Red Cell Volume

Previousstudies (1961, 1962) with *'Cr-labeled
erythrocytes on Marshallese subjects living in their
native environment have shown reducedred cell

slopes similar to those of the Marshallese and the

Siri and Moore groups. Comparison of the regression lines showsnosignificant difference between

*We are grateful to Dr. Shields Warren and his group at the
Cancer Research Institute in Boston for carrving out the chromosome analyses.

*We are grateful to Dr. W.E. Siri, University of California, for
carrying out thetritium-water analyses.

Table 25

Summaryof ChromosomeFindings

Group

No. of

No. of
cells

Percent

of cells
with

persons

scored

2n5=46

Exposed

30

1500

10

Exposed

13

630

8

8

400

3.5

173 rads

69 rads

Unexposed

50068341

No. of
persons

with
aber-

Chromosomeaberrations

Frag-

Dicentrics

Rings

changes

12

il

6

~

i)

11

10

2

l

8

5

9

-

-

-

rations

(40% )
(84.6%)

(62.5%)

ments

Ex-

Total
aber-

rations
22

(1.46%)
.

21

(3.23%)
9

(2.95%)

Total
cells

with
aber-

ChroIsomaud chromatid

rations

breaks

gaps

20

43

15

18

31

4

8

6

5

(1.33%)
(2.77%)

(2.0%)

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