title: A biokinetic model for predicting the retention of 3H in the human body after intakes of tritiated water.
abstract: Scarce published data on the long-term excretion of tritiated water from the human body have been re-evaluated in order to develop a biokinetic model describing the retention in the human body of 3H from tritiated water (HTO) that could be used for both prospective and retrospective radiation protection. A three-component exponential function is proposed to describe the elimination of 3H from HTO with biological half-times of 10 d (99.00%), 40 d (0.98%) and 350 d (0.02%) respectively. The model predicts a committed effective dose of 1.7 x 10(-11) Sv Bq(-1), comparable with that of the current ICRP Publication 56 and 72 models, and estimates the retention of 3H to within a factor of about 2 of the measured values up to 40 d after intake and about 5 at times longer than 100 d. The derivation of the model and the uncertainties associated with the various parameters are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Cardiff University, P.O. Box 912, Cardiff CF10 3TB, UK. davtav@globalnet.co.uk
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000284:Administration, Oral; D001822:Body Burden; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate; D008954:Models, Biological; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D014316:Tritium / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000652:urine*; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D014316:Tritium