Document Details

(3 mb)

PLUTONIUM IN MAN: A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD DATA

HREX; EXCRETE; LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT; PLUTONIUM; RE-ANALYZED; RELATIONSHIP; SKELETAL; URINARY PU; URINARY PU EXCRETION

Location - DOE/NNSA NUCLEAR TESTING ARCHIVE Address - P.O. Box 98521 City - Las Vegas State - NV Zip - 89193-8521 Phone - (702)794-5106 Fax - (702)862-4240 Email - NTA@NV.DOE.GOV

REPORT

Never classified

0062

NV0703689

1994 Aug 27

2012 May 14

PATRICIA W. DURBIN, PLUTONIUM IN MAN: A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD DATA. IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN URINARY PU EXCRETION AND BODY PU CONTENT, 18 PERSONS (15 OVER THE AGE OF 45) WERE INJECTED IN 1945 AND 1946 WITH TRACER DOSES OF 239PU. THE ORIGINAL DATA HAVE BEEN CRITICALLY REVIEWED AND RE-ANALYZED. A FEW DAYS AFTER INJECTION, HUMAN SOFT TISSUE (OTHER THAN BLOOD AND LIVER) CONTAINED AS MUCH AS 20% OF THE PU DOSE. FIVE TO 15 MONTHS AFTER INJECTION THE AVERAGE LIVER PU CONTENT WAS 31% OF THE DOSE FOR THREE CASES WITH PRESUMABLY NORMAL LIVER FUNCTION. FOUR TO 457 DAYS AFTER INJECTION THE MEAN TOTAL SKELETAL PU WAS 49% FOR THE 7 CASES JUDGED TO HAVE MOST NEARLY NORMAL LIVERS AND SKELETONS. PU IS TRANSPORTED IN BLOOD COMBINED WITH TRANSFERRIN, THE IRON-TRANSPORT PROTEIN, AND IS STORED IN THE LIVER IN ASSOCIATION WITH STORED IRON. AFTER BEING BOUND TO TRANSFERRIN, PU PARTIALLY TRACES THE BEHAVIOR OF THE CARRIER PROTEIN. THE EARLY PHASES OF PU TRANSPORT WHICH ARE APPARENTLY ASSOCIATED WITH EXTRA-CELLULAR FLUID MIXING, WERE PROLONGED IN INDIVIDUALS WITH IMPAIRED CIRCULATION. MAXIMUM URINARY PU EXCRETION OCCURRED BEFORE THE BULK OF PU WAS PROTEIN-BOUND. MINIMUM URINARY EXCRETION COINCIDED WITH THE TIME OF MAXIMUM PU-TRANSFERRIN BINDING. THESE OBSERVATIONS WERE TAKEN TO MEAN THAT SOME PU IS FILTERED BY THE KIDNEY IN THE FORM OF A LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT CHELATE. URINARY PU EXCRETION WAS REDUCED BY ONE-HALF IN THOSE PERSONS WHO WERE ANEMIC, PRESUMABLY BECAUSE OF THEIR MORE EFFICIENT PU-TRANSFERRIN BINDING. FECAL EXCRETION OF PU APPARENTLY REPRESENTS SECRETION IN BILE AND OTHER DIGESTIVE JUICES. FECAL EXCRETION WAS REDUCED BY ONE-HALF OR MORE IN THOSE PERSONS WHOSE GASTROINTESTINAL TRACTS WERE JUDGED NOT TO BE NORMALLY STIMULATED. SEMILOGARITHMIC CURVES OF PU DISAPPEARANCE FROM PLASMA AND OF DAILY PU EXCRETION WERE PREPARED FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL. "NORMAL" HUMAN PU PLASMA AND EXCRETION EQUATIONS (SUMS OF EXPONENTIALS) WERE CONSTRUCTED FROM THE MEAN HALF-TIMES AND INTERCEPTS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CASES. ALL CASES WERE INCLUDED IN THE MEAN HALF-TIMES - RATES WERE APPARENTLY NOT AFFECTED BY THE INDIVIDUALS' VARIOUS ILLNESSES. ONLY THE INTERCEPTS FOR THOSE PERSONS FOR WHOM A PARTICULAR FUNCTION WAS JUDGED TO BE WITHIN NORMAL LIMITS WERE INCLUDED IN THE MEAN INTERCEPTS. DAILY PU EXCRETION RATES AND TOTAL CUMULATIVE PU EXCRETION PREDICTED FROM EXPONENTIAL EQUATIONS WERE SOMEWHAT GREATER THAN PREDICTED FROM THE POWER FUNCTIONS OF LANGHAM ET AL., CHIEFLY BECAUSE ONLY DATA FROM NORMALLY FUNCTIONING EXCRETORY SYSTEMS WERE INCLUDED IN THE COEFFICIENTS, BUT ALSO BECAUSE THE FECAL EXCRETION ASSUMED IN THE EXPONENTIAL MODEL IS HIGHER THAN IN OTHER MODELS. TURNOVER OF PU IN BONE AND SOFT TISSUES STORAGE OF PU IN LIVER OF THE DOG AND PIT, AND STORAGE OF IRON IN MAN WERE REVIEWED. AT TRACER LEVELS NET LOSS OF PU FROM SOFT TISSUES AND BONE EXCEEDS WHOLE-BODY PU LOSS INDICATING CONTINUOUS ACCUMULATION OF PU IN THE LIVER. AVERAGE SOFT-TISSUE RELEASE HALF-TIME WAS ESTIMATED TO BE NOT LESS THAN 480 DAYS, AND BONE SURFACE TURNOVER FOR THE WHOLE ADULT HUMAN SKELETON WAS ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT 50% PER YEAR. FOR THE INDIVIDUAL ON A DIET ADEQUATE IN IRON AND WITH NORMAL IRON STORES, THIS MODEL PREDICTS THAT BONE AND LIVER WILL CONTAIN EQUAL AMOUNTS OF PU 15 YEARS AFTER EXPOSURE.