THE METABOLISM OF MERCURY IN THE RAT STUDIED BY ISOTOPE TECHNIQUES. I. THE DISTRIBUTION EXCRETION PATTERN OF MERCURIC CHLORIDE GIVEN AS A SINGLE INJECTION BY THE INTRAVENOUS AND INTRAMUSCULAR ROUTE

Technical Report · Sun Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1959

OSTI ID:4262511

Rothstein, A; Hayes, A; Bruton, W

The metabolism of mercury by the rat h; s been studied following intravenous or intramuscular injection, using Hg/sup 203/ as a tracer. By the intravenous route, mercury is rapidly distributed to all organs. In the first few hours, a large fraction is taken up by the liver but this is rapidly (few days) cleared via fecal excretion. The kidney is the major site of deposition. As the mercury content of other tissues decreases after the first day, that of the kidney increases for about two weeks to about 85 to 90% of the total body burden. The mercury in the kidney is exereted via the urine at a rate of about 1% of the body burden per day. By the intramuscular route, the clearance from the site of injection takes about two weeks. No panticularly large amounts of mercury appear in the liver. By the end of two weeks, as in the intravenous studies, most of the mercury is localized in the kidney. The excretion pattern reflects the organ distribution to some extent. During the first few days after intravenous administration, the bulk of the nmercury is excreted via the feces, representing clearancc through the liver. Thereafter, 2/3 of the mercury is excreted via the urine, related to the high kidney levels. (auth) weapon adds nothing to burn injury and that late evasive action is probably useless. Because of the nature of the thermal pulse of nuclear weapons, the final forty per cent of the total exposure occupies well over two-thirds of the exposure time. Since large weapons have a long thermal pulse, escape from the final 40 per cent of the exposure from such weapons might often be possible. The following experiment compares the severity of burns resulting from the first 83 per cent and the first 60 per cent of the full field pulse. Pulses simulating those of 25, Burns were produced on young Chester White pigs by radiant exposures of 10 calories/cm/sup 2/ and 7.3 calories/ cm/sup 2/ Twenty-four hours after burning, the lesions were biopsied and the depth of damage was assessed histologically. Since the 7.3 calorie/cm/sup 2/ burns are less severe than the l0 calorie/cm/sup 2/ burns, some portion of the pulse tail does add to the thermal damage to bare skin. One might well be able to avoid even more of the pulse tail following the detonation of weapons greater than 200 kilotons in size, and such action should be protective. Smaller weapons, however, deliver so much of their energy so rapidly that evasive action after their detonation is probably useless. (auth)

• Research Organization: Rochester, N.Y. Univ. Atomic Energy Project
• NSA Number: NSA-13-013152
• OSTI ID: 4262511
• Report Number(s): UR-543
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
DISTRIBUTION
INTESTINE
KIDNEYS
LIVER
MERCURY 203
METABOLISM
QUANTITY RATIO
RATS
TISSUES
TRACER TECHNIQUES
URINE
VARIATIONS