Metabolism of Pu 239 in Adult Beagle Dogs

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Abstract
As part of a large experimental program to compare the long term toxicities of Pu239, Ra226, and several other radioactive isotopes which deposit mainly in the skeleton, the plasma concentration, excretion, skeletal and soft tissue deposition of Pu239 have been measured for 4 years after a single intravenous injection of PuIV. First day plasma concentrations are high, for plutonium is bound by blood proteins. For times greater than 3 weeks retention (R) is given by: R(% injected dose ) = 90.0 - 0.434 t0.515 (t in days). No effect of dose level, age at injection, or sex could be demonstrated. Most of the plutonium deposits in bone and liver, and tissue measurements are consistent with retention calculated from excretion. Plutonium liver deposits persist for a long time in man and dog, but not in the rat. Retention in man is a little higher than in beagles, but distributions are quite similar. Average (i.e., calculated assuming uniform distribution) radiation dose rates and average cumulative radiation doses to skeleton and to liver are about equal. However, skeletal damage greatly predominates. The cumulative skeletal doses from Pu239 and Ra226 are compared.

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