Effect of 241-Am on bone fibroblasts

The results indicate that the fibroblast colony forming cell is radiosensitive for α-irradiation from the radionuclide^241Am. This implies that the CFU-f must be localized within the range of the α-rays. The quantitative response of the CFU-f on the α-irradiation does not allow to draw the firm conclusion that the CFU-f is a possible target cell for bone-cancer induction. Only radioresistant CFU-f keep the potentiality of bone-cancer induction. This leads to the hypothesis, that the radio-resistant (and even increasing) CFU-f population in femur shaft, distal, and proximal epiphyses and sternum could be most interesting to follow and to check for qualitative changes that could give information about the toxicological properties of²⁴¹Am in connection with the carcinogenic induction in this cell line.