The Chernobyl site in northern Ukraine was flooded with deadly radiation after the 1986 nuclear meltdown, but a new study shows that microscopic worms at the site appear to be unaffected by the environment, and further studies into worm tolerance radiation could help the planet. future of cancer research.
In the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from New York University found that nearly 40 years after the Chernobyl disaster, small worms called nematodes collected at the disaster site showed no noticeable changes in their genetics. .
Through a series of tests, the researchers also found that Chernobyl worms were no more or less likely to tolerate radiation than other non-Chernobyl worms of the same species, according to the lead researcher and New York University postdoc Sophia Tintori.
Tintori cautioned that the type of tiny nematodes collected at the site (scientific name Oscheius tipulae) are quite resistant to changes in environmental factors. However, by studying the range of resilience to DNA damage in worms, researchers can begin to infer why they differ and then adapt such studies in the future to aid cancer research in humans. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, long-term exposure to even low levels of radiation can slightly increase the risk of cancer in humans.
“We can better understand who is at greater risk for certain types of cancer or who might respond differently to chemotherapies, and just have a better understanding of how that type of risk works within a population,” Tintori said. Fortune.
The New York University findings are also significant because researchers are still working to understand the full effects of the Chernobyl disaster. Although scientists have conducted previous studies examining dogs, birds and frogs from the area surrounding Chernobyl, these findings still don’t give us the full picture of the fallout, partly due to biological differences between the animals.
Worms are particularly useful for understanding the effects of the Chernobyl disaster because they reproduce rapidly, making it easier for researchers to test hypotheses, as they did for resilience to DNA damage, across multiple generations. Because the worms, which number in the millions, are essentially stuck in the conditions in which they were collected thanks to cryopreservation, researchers can use them for testing for decades without worry, Tintori said.
“Now we can start to ask: what are the differences between these worms? What are the specific genetic differences that allow one to be more tolerant than the other and what are the differences in the biology of these animals?” Tintori said.
To obtain the samples, Tintori and his research team traveled to Ukraine and, at times, wore PPE as they collected samples of rotting fruit and other decaying organic material from both high- and low-radioactive sites around Chernobyl .
Later in the laboratory, the researchers placed the samples in a piece of tissue paper inside a closed funnel filled with water. Overnight, the worms in the samples moved to the bottom and collected in the water.
To avoid the worst effects of high radiation, the researchers had to move quickly to collect their samples. Because radiation can damage cells but is not visible to the naked eye, Tintori said she was sometimes nervous.
“You can detect radiation levels, but you can’t detect which DNA is being damaged in which part of the body,” he said.