Postmortem Tissue Contents of 241Am in a Person with a Massive Acute Exposure

Jf, McInroy; Rl, Kathren; Re, Toohey; Mj, Swint; Bd, Breitenstein

doi:10.1097/00004032-199509000-00002

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…A single local DTPA treatment administered at 2 h either to lungs (Figure 4A) or to the wound site (Figure 4B) significantly increased the cumulative 7-days urinary excretion of total alpha activity by some 5 and 3 fold respectively. These data are in agreement with other reports following inhalation of Pu oxide or Pu nitrate or simulated wound contamination both in experimental animal studies (Bistline et al, 1974;Guilmette and Muggenburg, 1993;Grémy et al, 2012;Griffiths et al, 2014) and in man (McInroy et al, 1995;Grappin et al, 2007). It can also be observed that cumulative urinary excretion of activity increased exponentially for the first three days and then levels off.…”

Section: Urinary Activity Excretionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Comparison of Local and Systemic DTPA Treatment Efficacy According to Actinide Physicochemical Properties Following Lung or Wound Contamination in the Rat

2021

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Purpose: In cases of occupational accidents in nuclear facilities or subsequent to terrorist activities, the most likely routes of internal contamination with alpha-particle emitting actinides, such as plutonium (Pu) and americium (Am), are by inhalation or following wounding. Following contamination, actinide transfer to the circulation and subsequent deposition in skeleton and liver depends primarily on the physicochemical nature of the compound. The treatment remit following internal contamination is to decrease actinide retention and in consequence potential health risks, both at the contamination site and in systemic retention organs as well as to promote elimination. The only approved drug for decorporation of Pu and Am is the metal chelator diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA). However, a limited efficacy of DTPA has been reported following contamination with insoluble actinides, irrespective of the contamination route. The objectives of this work are to evaluate the efficacy of prompt local and/or systemic DTPA treatment regimens following lung or wound contamination by actinides with differing solubility. The conclusions are drawn from retrospective analysis of experimental studies carried out over 10 years.Materials and Methods: Rat lungs or wounds were contaminated either with poorly soluble Mixed OXide (U, Pu O2) or more soluble forms of Pu (nitrate or citrate). DTPA treatment was administered promptly after contamination, locally to lungs by insufflation of a powder or inhalation of aerosolized solution or by injection directly into the wound site. Intravenous injections of DTPA were given either once or repeated in combination with the local treatment. Doses ranged from 1 to 30 µmol/kg. Animals were euthanized from day 7–21 and alpha activity levels were measured in urine, lungs, wound, bone and liver for determination of decorporation efficacy.Results: Different experiments confirmed that whatever the route of contamination, most of the activity is retained at the entry site after insoluble MOX contamination as compared with contamination with more soluble forms which results in very low activities reaching the systemic compartment and subsequent retention in bone and liver. Several DTPA treatment regimens were evaluated that had no significant effect on either lung or wound levels compared with untreated animals. In contrast, in all cases systemic retention (skeleton and liver) was reduced and urinary excretion were enhanced irrespective of the contamination route or DTPA treatment regimen.Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that despite limitation of retention in systemic organs, different DTPA protocols were ineffective in removing insoluble actinides deposited in lungs or wound site. For moderately soluble actinides, local or intravenous DTPA treatment reduced activity levels both at contamination and at systemic sites.

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Section: Urinary Activity Excretionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Comparison of Local and Systemic DTPA Treatment Efficacy According to Actinide Physicochemical Properties Following Lung or Wound Contamination in the Rat

2021

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“…Americium exposure USTUR Case 0246 241 Am was not detected in the section of right superior lung lobe analyzed here. This null observation is consistent with previous radiochemical 241Am analyses (3 Bq/g or 0.024 ng/g) in the right lung25 . This concentration is well below the limit of detection of the currently used LA-ICP-MS system.…”

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confidence: 93%

Elemental Bio-imaging of Thorium, Uranium, and Plutonium in Tissues from Occupationally Exposed Former Nuclear Workers

et al. 2010

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Internal exposure from naturally occurring radionuclides (including the inhaled long-lived actinides (232)Th and (238)U) is a component of the ubiquitous background radiation dose (National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. Ionizing radiation exposure of the population of the United States; NCRP Report No. 160; NCRP: Bethesda, MD, 2009). It is of interest to compare the concentration distribution of these natural alpha-emitters in the lungs and respiratory lymph nodes with those resulting from occupational exposure, including exposure to anthropogenic plutonium and depleted and enriched uranium. This study examines the application of laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) to quantifying and visualizing the mass distribution of uranium and thorium isotopes from both occupational and natural background exposure in human respiratory tissues and, for the first time, extends this application to the direct imaging of plutonium isotopes. Sections of lymphatic and lung tissues taken from deceased former nuclear workers with a known history of occupational exposure to specific actinide elements (uranium, plutonium, or americium) were analyzed by LA-ICPMS. Using a previously developed LA-ICPMS protocol for elemental bio-imaging of trace elements in human tissue and a new software tool, we generated images of thorium ((232)Th), uranium ((235)U and (238)U), and plutonium ((239)Pu and (240)Pu) mass distributions in sections of tissue. We used a laboratory-produced matrix-matched standard to quantify the (232)Th, (235)U, and (238)U concentrations. The plutonium isotopes (239)Pu and (240)Pu were detected by LA-ICPMS in 65 mum diameter localized regions of both a paratracheal lymph node and a sample of lung tissue from a person who was occupationally exposed to refractory plutonium (plutonium dioxide). The average (overall) (239)Pu concentration in the lymph node was 39.2 ng/g, measured by high purity germanium (HPGe) gamma-spectrometry (Lynch, T. P.; Tolmachev, S. Y.; James, A. C. Radiat. Prot. Dosim. 2009, 134, 94-101). Localized mass concentrations of thorium ((232)Th) and uranium ((238)U) in lymph node tissue from a person not occupationally exposed to these elements (chronic natural background inhalation exposure) ranged up to 400 and 375 ng/g, respectively. In lung samples of occupationally nonexposed to thorium and uranium workers, (232)Th and (238)U concentrations ranged up to 200 and 170 ng/g, respectively. In a person occupationally exposed to air-oxidized uranium metal (Adley, F. E.; Gill, W. E.; Scott, R. H. Study of atmospheric contaminiation in the melt plant buiding. HW-23352(Rev.); United States Atomic Energy Commission: Oakridge, TN, 1952, p 1-97), the maximum (235)U and (238)U isotopic mass concentrations in a lymph node, measured at higher resolution (with a 30 mum laser spot diameter), were 70 and 8500 ng/g, respectively. The ratio of these simultaneously measured mass concentrations signifies natural uranium. The current technique was not sufficiently sensitive...

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“… (873) One exposure case has been described in which a worker received a combination of wound and inhalation exposures to 241 Am in nitric acid, presumably a nitrate form (Robinson et al., 1983). In this case, lung retention was described as 86% associated with a half-time of 1.8 d, 13% with a half-time of 27 d, and 1% with a half-time of 170 d. The follow-up of the contamination was updated for the lifetime of the worker, for 11 y after the accident, by Breitenstein and Palmer (1989), and the results of an autopsy were reported afterwards by McInroy et al. (1995).…”

Section: Americium (Z = 95)mentioning

confidence: 97%

“… (485) In 15 studies of inhaled soluble compounds, sufficient early retention data were available to allow estimates of s r . (486) Breitenstein and Palmer (1989) and McInroy et al. (1995) reported the 11-year follow-up and autopsy measurements on a worker who received a combination of wound and inhalation exposures to 241 Am in nitric acid.…”

Section: A Generic Biokinetic Modelling Scheme For the Actinidesmentioning

confidence: 99%