The Absorption, Retention, and Distribution of Strontium 90 from Naturally Contaminated Food by Female Rabbits

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Abstract
Female rabbits, were fed commercial laboratory rabbit chow, contaminated with 20 pC strotium 90/gram calcium from fallout for 20-40 days. 15% of the dietary strontium and 41% of the dietary calcium was absorbed. Utilization of dietary calcium over that of strontium-90 by the total rabbit body occurs by a factor of 3.8, a value similar to the factor of 4 found in man and other animals. The strontium-90 content of teeth, jaw, vertebral and leg bones in 35 day old rabbits was similar, averaging 6 pC strontium 90/gram calcium. Strontium-90 content is greatest in teeth of female rabbits ranging between 35 and 900 days of age, and the jaw, vertebral and leg bones contain progressively smaller amounts of nuclide as the animals aged. The similarity between the values of calcium utilization over that of strontium-90 for the balance studies and tooth studies suggests that rapidly growing calcified tissues, such as rodent teeth, are essentially in equilibrium with the diet and rodent teeth may represent a useful index for the estimation of strontium-90 total body burden.