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Radioactivity studies. Progress report. Volume II. [Metabolic modelling of curuim in the baboon]

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5578752

The metabolism of /sup 243/ /sup 244/Cm in nine adult female baboons following intravenous injection was studied. Curium-243,244 was administered as a single injection of curium citrate in dosages of 0.053 to 0.220 ..mu..Ci/kg. The behavior of /sup 243/ /sup 244/Cm at these low dosages was quantitated by external whole-body and partial-body counting, bioassay of blood, urine and feces samples, liver biopsies, and post-mortem tissues analysis. Curium-243,244 rapidly passed from the blood to other tissues. At 1 and 24 h after injection, the amounts circulating were 10% and 1%, respectively. At 24 h after injection 70% of the /sup 243/ /sup 244/Cm was located within soft tissues, probably associated with extracellular fluid; the liver alone contained 32% of the injected activity. During the first weeks the content of /sup 243/ /sup 244/Cm in soft tissues decreased sharply. As time progressed, significant deposition was noted in the liver and the skeleton. Approximately 20% of the injected activity was in the liver at 1 month with a 40 day half-time. The skeleton reached a maximum burden of 57% by 100 days; the half-time observed in bone was 4 to 16 y. During the first 24 h, 10% of the injected activity appeared in the urine decreasing to 0.1%/day at 30 days and 0.01%/day at 200 days. Fecal excretion increased reaching a maximum level at four weeks. The amount of /sup 243/ /sup 244/Cm excreted in the feces during the initial 4 to 5 months (approx. 20%) and the rate of elimination in the feces after the first month paralleled the retention in the liver indicating an hepatic-biliary-fecal pathway. A model illustrating the interaction of seven internal compartments with respect to the translocation kinetics of /sup 243/ /sup 244/Cm was derived based upon this data. Solutions of the model were derived for two specific time-related exposures.

Research Organization:
New York Univ., NY (USA). Medical Center
DOE Contract Number:
AS02-76EV03382
OSTI ID:
5578752
Report Number(s):
DOE/EV/03382-20-Vol.2; ON: DE82007856
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English