Mechanism of cesium accumulation in agricultural materials and tissues

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25560060
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Eating habits
• Research Institution: Suzuka University of Medical Science
• Principal Investigator: INOUE Masayasu 鈴鹿医療科学大学, 薬学部, 客員教授 (80040278)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 森本 素子 宮城大学, 食産業学部, 教授 (30250301)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 放射線障害 / 活性酸素 / セシウム / 原子力発電所 / 農産物汚染 / 魚介類汚染 / 健康被害 / 風評被害

Outline of Final Research Achievements

After the accident of the Fukushima atomic plant in 2011, huge amounts of radioactive materials were scattered in and around the Tohoku area and, hence, radioactive compounds with long life-time, such as cesium, contaminated in its environment. Although cesium has high affinity to anionic compounds in rice, mushrooms, and sea foods, and forms highly stable complexes with them, the mechanism of and the method to regulate the strong binding of cesium remains unknown. The present work was carried out to clarify the mechanism of and the method to regulate the strong binding of cesium to agricultural materials, such as rice and mushrooms. Biochemical and kinetic analysis revealed that cesium strongly bound to negatively charged phosphoric ligand in phytic acid in unpolished rice and suggested that it would be better to eat polished rice rather than unpolished one if contamination of cesium is highly suspected.

Free Research Field

生化学・分子病態学