DISTRIBUTION AND REMOVAL OF TRANSURANIC ELEMENTS AND CERIUM DEPOSITED BY THE INHALATION ROUTE

Technical Report · Tue Oct 16 00:00:00 EDT 1962

OSTI ID:4767788

Bair, W J; Tombropoulos, E G; Park, J F

Tissue distribution and excretion of inhaled plutonium varied with the chemical form and the panticle size of the aerosols. In dogs, thirty days after inhalation of plutonium nitrate, 70% of the body burden was in the lungs, 12% in liver, 15% in the skeleton, and 3% in all other tissues. After inhalation of Pu/ sup 239/O/sub 2/ with a mass median diameter (MMD) of 0.23 mu , 71% of the body burden was in lung, 3% in bronchial lymph nodes, 4.4% in muscle, 1.3% in skeleton, and 20% was distributed throughout all remaining tissues. After inhalation of Pu/sup 239/O/sub 2/ aerosols with MMD's of 2.3 to 7.8 mu , the lungs contained 98%, the bronchial lymph nodes about 1%, and all other tissues the remaining 1%. Three weeks after inhalation of Np/sup 237/ as a contaminant of an industrial dust the iungs of rats contained 50% of the body burden. These and excretion data defined the relative importance of the three routes by which inhaled radioactive isotopes were cleared from the lung, e.g., movement up the trachea by ciliary action followed by excretion in the feces, transport across the alveolar membrane to other tissues and/or excretion in urine, and transport to the bronchial lymph nodes which accumulate inhaled insoluble materials. Therapy agents were tested that would be expected to increase the clearance of radioactive isotopes from the lung by routes which would avoid accumulation in other, perhaps more radiosensitive tissues. These included chelating agents, wetting agents, irritants, sympathomimetic, parasympathomimetic, parasympatholytic, and anti-histamine drugs. Diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid (DTPA), a chelating agent, administered by aerosols or intraperitonealiy caused rapid transport of Ce/sup 144/-Pr/sup 144/ from the lung and from the body via urinary excretion. One month after exposure to Ce/sup 144/Pr/sup 144/ treated rats and dogs retained less than l0% of the Ce/sup 144/-Pr/sup 144/ levels of untreated animals. Polypropyleneglycolethylene oxide polymer (Pluronics F68), and to a lesser extent, DTPA, increased the rates of urinary and fecal excretion of inhaled plutonium, but were much less effective than they were in removing Ce/ sup 144/-Pr/sup 144/. (auth)

• Research Organization: General Electric Co. Hanford Atomic Products Operation, Richland, Wash.
• DOE Contract Number: AT(45-1)-1350
• NSA Number: NSA-17-002796
• OSTI ID: 4767788
• Report Number(s): HW-SA-2700
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
AEROSOLS
ANIMALS
BONES
BRONCHI
CERIUM 144
CHELATES
CONTAMINATION
DECONTAMINATION
DISTRIBUTION
DOGS
DRUGS
DTPA
DUSTS
FECES
GLANDS
LIVER
LUNGS
LYMPH NODES
LYMPH SYSTEM
METABOLISM
MUSCLES
NEPTUNIUM 237
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM NITRATES
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
PRASEODYMIUM 144
QUANTITY RATIO
RATS
TISSUES
URINE