Enhancement of Cesium-137 Excretion by Rats Maintained Chronically on Ferric Ferrocyanide.

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Abstract
Summary Continuous ingestion of ferric ferrocyanide (Prussian blue, PB) at concentrations of .25 and 2.5 g/l in drinking water causes a significant reduction over a 60-day period in the whole-body retention of a single intravenous administration of 137Cs in rats. No effect was noted at a concentration of .025 g PB/l. The serial decrease in radioactivity resulted from both reduced fractional deposition in and increased biological turnover from the major retention component. Retention was described by a linear sum of 3 exponential terms. Cesium appearing in the gut by secretory processes is bound by PB and prevented from reentering the body for recirculation. Interrupting the enteral cycle results in an acceleration of total cesium excretion and in a drastic reduction (factor of 20) in the urinary-to-fecal excretion ratio. A kinetic approach for assessing total integrated effect of drug treatment in tracer studies is presented. The integrated effect of PB treatment at the highest concentration was a reduction by about 60% in the total area under the whole-body retention curve compared with that of control rats. Prussian blue appears to be the most effective antidote for radiocesium contamination tested in animals to date and, because of its apparent lack of toxicity, might prove to be effective in man.