Metabolic Behaviour of137Cs-137mBa in the Lactating Goat

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Abstract
Investigations on the metabolism of 137Cs in the lactating goat demonstrated that: (a) the biological half-time for removal of 137Cs from the body was about 2–3 days, (b) at steady state, about 7 per cent of the daily dose of ingested 137Cs was secreted daily in milk, about 40 per cent in the urine and about 40 per cent in the faeces, (c) the 137Cs/K ratio in milk was 1·4 based on a dietary 137Cs/K ratio of unity, (d) the mammary gland did not differentiate between 137Cs and K, (e) the organ of highest concentration was kidney, with values 1·5 times that of muscle and other soft tissues, (f) the 137mBa daughter metabolically dissociated from its 137Cs parent in vivo so that the gamma activity of the whole blood of the living animal was 5·5 times that as usually determined. These and other findings are discussed and reference made to differences in 137Cs metabolism between ruminants and non-ruminants.