This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Priest, N.D. Articles by Haines, J.W. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Priest, N.D. Articles by Haines, J.W. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Uranium in Bone: Metabolic and Autoradiographic Studies in the Rat

National Radiological Protection Board, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 ORQ

G.R. Howells

MRC Radiobiology Unit, Harwell, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0RD

D. Green

MRC Radiobiology Unit, Harwell, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0RD

J.W. Haines

National Radiological Protection Board, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 ORQ

The distribution and retention of intravenously injected hexavalent uranium-233 in the skeleton of the female rat has been investigated using a variety of autoradiographic and radiochemical techniques. These showed that approximately one third of the injected uranium is deposited in the skeleton where it is retained with an initial biological half-time of 40 days. The studies also showed that:

1 Uranium is initially deposited onto all types of bone surface, but preferentially onto those that are accreting.

2 Uranium is deposited in the calcifying zones of skeletal cartilage.

3 Bone accretion results in the burial of surface deposits of uranium.

4 Bone resorption causes the removal of uranium from surfaces.

5 Resorbed uranium is not retained by osteoclasts and macrophages in the bone marrow.

6 Uranium removed from bone surfaces enters the bloodstream where most is either redeposited in bone or excreted via the kidneys.

7 The recycling of resorbed uranium within the skeleton tends to produce a uniform level of uranium contamination throughout mineralized bone. These results are taken to indicate that uranium deposition in bone shares characteristics in common with both the 'volume-seeking radionuclides' typified by the alkaline earth elements and with the 'bone surface-seeking radionuclides' typified by plutonium.

Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 1, No. 2, 97-114 (1982)
DOI: 10.1177/096032718200100202


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?