Home > Publications Database > Airborne Radioiodine: A Comparative View of Chemical Forms in Medicine, Nuclear Industry, and Fallout Scenarios. > print

001     284350
005     20260212105835.0
024 7 _ |a 10.3390/ijms27020590
|2 doi
024 7 _ |a pmid:41596242
|2 pmid
024 7 _ |a 1422-0067
|2 ISSN
024 7 _ |a 1661-6596
|2 ISSN
037 _ _ |a DZNE-2026-00121
041 _ _ |a English
082 _ _ |a 540
100 1 _ |a Schomäcker, Klaus
|0 0000-0003-2636-0058
|b 0
245 _ _ |a Airborne Radioiodine: A Comparative View of Chemical Forms in Medicine, Nuclear Industry, and Fallout Scenarios.
260 _ _ |a Basel
|c 2026
|b Molecular Diversity Preservation International
336 7 _ |a article
|2 DRIVER
336 7 _ |a Output Types/Journal article
|2 DataCite
336 7 _ |a Journal Article
|b journal
|m journal
|0 PUB:(DE-HGF)16
|s 1770812428_18491
|2 PUB:(DE-HGF)
|x Review Article
336 7 _ |a ARTICLE
|2 BibTeX
336 7 _ |a JOURNAL_ARTICLE
|2 ORCID
336 7 _ |a Journal Article
|0 0
|2 EndNote
520 _ _ |a Airborne iodine-131 plays a pivotal role in both nuclear medicine and nuclear safety due to its radiotoxicity, volatility, and affinity for the thyroid gland. Although the total exhaled activity after medical I-131 therapy is minimal, over 95% of this activity appears in volatile organic forms, which evade standard filtration and reflect metabolic pathways of iodine turnover. Our experimental work in patients and mice confirms the metabolic origin of these species, modulated by thyroidal function. In nuclear reactor environments, both under routine operation and during accidents, organic iodides such as [131I]CH3I have also been identified as major airborne components, often termed 'penetrating iodine' due to their low adsorption to conventional filters. This review compares the molecular speciation, environmental persistence, and dosimetric impact of airborne I-131 across clinical, technical, and accidental release scenarios. While routine reactor emissions yield negligible doses (<0.1 µSv/year), severe nuclear incidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima have resulted in significant thyroid exposures. Doses from these events ranged from tens of millisieverts to several Sieverts, particularly in children. We argue that a deeper understanding of chemical forms is essential for effective risk assessment, filtration technology, and emergency preparedness. Iodine-131 exemplifies the dual nature of radioactive substances: in nuclear medicine its radiotoxicity is therapeutically harnessed, whereas in industrial or reactor contexts it represents an unwanted hazard. The same physicochemical properties that enable therapeutic efficacy also determine, in the event of uncontrolled release, the range, persistence, and the potential for unwanted radiotoxic exposure in the general population. In nuclear medicine, exhaled activity after radioiodine therapy is minute but largely organically bound, reflecting enzymatic and metabolic methylation processes. During normal reactor operation, airborne iodine levels are negligible and dominated by inorganic vapors efficiently captured by filtration systems. In contrast, major accidents released large fractions of volatile iodine, primarily as elemental [131I]I2 and organically bound iodine species like [131I]CH3I. The chemical nature of these compounds defined their atmospheric lifetime, transport distance, and deposition pattern, thereby governing the thyroid dose to exposed populations. Chemical speciation is the key determinant across all scenarios. Exhaled iodine in medicine is predominantly organic; routine reactor releases are negligible; severe accidents predominantly release elemental and organic iodine that drive environmental transport and exposure. Integrating these domains shows how chemical speciation governs volatility, mobility, and bioavailability. The novelty of this review lies not in introducing new iodine chemistry, but in the systematic comparative synthesis of airborne radioiodine speciation across medical therapy, routine nuclear operation, and severe accident scenarios, identifying chemical form as the unifying determinant of volatility, environmental transport, and dose.
536 _ _ |a 353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353)
|0 G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353
|c POF4-353
|f POF IV
|x 0
588 _ _ |a Dataset connected to CrossRef, PubMed, , Journals: pub.dzne.de
650 _ 7 |a airborne I-131
|2 Other
650 _ 7 |a iodine speciation
|2 Other
650 _ 7 |a nuclear fallout
|2 Other
650 _ 7 |a radioiodine therapy
|2 Other
650 _ 7 |a routine reactor emissions
|2 Other
650 _ 7 |a Iodine Radioisotopes
|2 NLM Chemicals
650 _ 7 |a Air Pollutants, Radioactive
|2 NLM Chemicals
650 _ 7 |a Iodine-131
|2 NLM Chemicals
650 _ 7 |a Radioactive Fallout
|2 NLM Chemicals
650 _ 2 |a Iodine Radioisotopes: chemistry
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Iodine Radioisotopes: analysis
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Iodine Radioisotopes: adverse effects
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Humans
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Animals
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Air Pollutants, Radioactive: analysis
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Air Pollutants, Radioactive: chemistry
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Air Pollutants, Radioactive: adverse effects
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Radioactive Fallout: analysis
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Nuclear Medicine
|2 MeSH
650 _ 2 |a Thyroid Gland: radiation effects
|2 MeSH
700 1 _ |a Sudbrock, Ferdinand
|b 1
700 1 _ |a Fischer, Thomas
|0 P:(DE-2719)9000370
|b 2
700 1 _ |a Dietlein, Felix
|0 0000-0002-6651-7155
|b 3
700 1 _ |a Dietlein, Markus
|0 0000-0003-0992-6099
|b 4
700 1 _ |a Krapf, Philipp
|b 5
700 1 _ |a Drzezga, Alexander
|0 P:(DE-2719)2811239
|b 6
|e Last author
|u dzne
773 _ _ |a 10.3390/ijms27020590
|g Vol. 27, no. 2, p. 590 -
|0 PERI:(DE-600)2019364-6
|n 2
|p 590
|t International journal of molecular sciences
|v 27
|y 2026
|x 1422-0067
856 4 _ |y OpenAccess
|u https://pub.dzne.de/record/284350/files/DZNE-2026-00121.pdf
856 4 _ |y OpenAccess
|x pdfa
|u https://pub.dzne.de/record/284350/files/DZNE-2026-00121.pdf?subformat=pdfa
909 C O |o oai:pub.dzne.de:284350
|p openaire
|p open_access
|p VDB
|p driver
|p dnbdelivery
910 1 _ |a Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen
|0 I:(DE-588)1065079516
|k DZNE
|b 6
|6 P:(DE-2719)2811239
913 1 _ |a DE-HGF
|b Gesundheit
|l Neurodegenerative Diseases
|1 G:(DE-HGF)POF4-350
|0 G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353
|3 G:(DE-HGF)POF4
|2 G:(DE-HGF)POF4-300
|4 G:(DE-HGF)POF
|v Clinical and Health Care Research
|x 0
914 1 _ |y 2026
915 _ _ |a DBCoverage
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)0200
|2 StatID
|b SCOPUS
|d 2024-12-21
915 _ _ |a DBCoverage
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)0300
|2 StatID
|b Medline
|d 2024-12-21
915 _ _ |a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0
|0 LIC:(DE-HGF)CCBY4
|2 HGFVOC
915 _ _ |a DBCoverage
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)0600
|2 StatID
|b Ebsco Academic Search
|d 2024-12-21
915 _ _ |a DBCoverage
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)1150
|2 StatID
|b Current Contents - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences
|d 2024-12-21
915 _ _ |a WoS
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)0113
|2 StatID
|b Science Citation Index Expanded
|d 2024-12-21
915 _ _ |a DBCoverage
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)0150
|2 StatID
|b Web of Science Core Collection
|d 2024-12-21
915 _ _ |a OpenAccess
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)0510
|2 StatID
915 _ _ |a Peer Review
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)0030
|2 StatID
|b ASC
|d 2024-12-21
915 _ _ |a DBCoverage
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)0160
|2 StatID
|b Essential Science Indicators
|d 2024-12-21
915 _ _ |a DBCoverage
|0 StatID:(DE-HGF)0199
|2 StatID
|b Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List
|d 2024-12-21
920 1 _ |0 I:(DE-2719)1011202
|k AG Boecker
|l Positron Emissions Tomography (PET)
|x 0
980 _ _ |a journal
980 _ _ |a VDB
980 _ _ |a UNRESTRICTED
980 _ _ |a I:(DE-2719)1011202
980 1 _ |a FullTexts

LibraryCollectionCLSMajorCLSMinorLanguageAuthor
Marc 21