The transfer of ¹³⁷Cs and heavy metals to tissues within the organs of snails

This paper describes the dynamics of ¹³⁷Cs accumulation and its concentration ratio as well as that of some stable elements in the body, shell, gastrointestinal tract and albumin gland of a particular species of snail (terrestrial gastropod), namely the Giant African snail (Lissachatina fulica), after the long-term ingestion of contaminated forage and/or soil. The activity concentration of ¹³⁷Cs in the their bodies increased over the first 40 days of the experiment, after which the increase in the activity of this radionuclide significantly reduced. The distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in the body of a snail decreases as follows: gastrointestinal tract ˃ body = albumin gland ˃ shell. It was found that the contribution of soil towards the contamination of their bodies by ¹³⁷Cs is far less than that of forage. Although the biological availability of Pb and U in forage is one order of magnitude higher than in soil, the main contribution to the contamination of snails originates from soil.