Plutonium targets immune response, lipid homeostasis, other cellular processes
Organ-specific responses to plutonium exposure have been identified, offering insight into new approaches for pharmaceutical countermeasure design and treatment
Plutonium, the radioactive element most notable for its use in nuclear weapons, is highly toxic not just due to its radioactivity. In new research from Rebecca Abergel, Ph.D., and co-workers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, underlying cellular response mechanisms have been uncovered that show how, as a toxic heavy metal, plutonium can damage organs in ways other than radioactive decay. This new insight can aid in the design and development of medical countermeasures to safeguard human health in the event of exposure. Read the paper