Metabolic reactions of Apodemus (S.) uralensis (Muridae, Rodentia) to radioactive contamination of the environment depending on the population number dynamics

Abstract

In order to reveal the most important reactions of animals and humans to radioactive contamination of the environment, the dependence of the biochemical parameters of lipid, carbohydrate, and protein metabolism on the population number dynamics as a major environmental factor has been studied in the pygmy wood mouse (Apodemus (S.) uralensis) within the East Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT). As the population number within the EURT area increases, the level of oxidative metabolism and cell-tissue functional activity, combined with inhibition of protein and lipid biosynthesis, has been found to become more pronounced compared to the reference (background) territory. This characterizes the condition of chronic stress with some signs of exhaustion of energy resources in the body. A differentiated account of the population number allows us to correct the results of radiation effects and their interpretation, emphasizing the need to study major environmental factors in the evaluation of technogenic (first of all, radioactive) effects on human and animal populations.