A compartmental model for investigating the influence of physiological factors on the rate of washout of133Xe and37Ar from the body

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Abstract
A compartmental model with five tissue compartments and two lung compart- ments has been developed to simulate the exhalation of an inert gas following (i) bolus intravenous injection of 133Xe in saline, (ii) bolus intravenous injection of 37Ar in saline, and (iii) the formation of 37Ar in bone tissue following fast neutron irradiation. The model was used to assess the probable effect thaf variations in individual physiology would have on measurements of body calcium by the 37Ar method. The likely errors arising from changes in physiology were found to be less than ±5%. The use of a recirculating breath collection system for collection of 37Ar could introduce errors larger than 5% if collection continued for one hour or more without extraction of the exhaled activity from the circuit.