title: Hair as an indicator of the body content of polonium in humans: preliminary results from study of five male volunteers.
abstract: The radionuclide (210)Po is of importance from a radiation protection view and has properties that cause special problems when attempting to determine the body content in humans. Estimates have traditionally been made from either urine and/or fecal samples, which require a time-consuming radiochemical preparation before alpha spectrometric determination. In order to find a more simple and less labor intensive method hair has been used as a bioindicator and investigated in this study. The relationship between intake and excretion in hair has been estimated in five volunteers who ingested radioactive polonium ((209)Po as a bio-tracer for (210)Po) in well determined quantities. Four of the volunteers were given 5-10 Bq (209)Po in a single intake (acute intake) and one volunteer has ingested a daily intake of 58.7 mBq (209)Po for a period of 180 d. Human hair was found to reflect the daily clearance of ingested polonium peaking at 0.001-0.01% d(-1) of the ingested amount, thereafter decreasing mono-exponentially, corresponding to a biological half-time of 10-20 days. For the case of protracted intake a mono-exponential build-up was observed with a half-time of 40 ± 5 d. In addition, after cessation of intake, a short-term component (74%) with a biological half-time of 16 ± 4 d, and a long-term component (26%) with a half-time of 93 ± 53 d were observed. It is concluded that hair can be used to detect not only the amount of ingested polonium but also whether the intake was protracted or acute.
authors.affiliation: Medical Radiation Physics, Department of Clinical Sciences, Malmö, Lund University, Skåne University Hospital, SE-205 02 Malmö, Sweden. Electronic address: christopher.raaf@med.lu.se.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Rääf
authors.affiliation: Medical Radiation Physics, Department of Clinical Sciences, Malmö, Lund University, Skåne University Hospital, SE-205 02 Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Holstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Physics, Sahlgren Academy at the University of Gothenburg, SE-413 45, Sweden. Electronic address: prof.elis.holm@gmail.com.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Holm
authors.affiliation: DTU Nutech, Risø Campus, Technical University of Denmark, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark. Electronic address: roos@risoe.dtu.dk.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011059:Polonium / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011848:Radioactive Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D013548:Sweden; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D011848:Radioactive Pollutants; D011059:Polonium
keywords: Bioindiciator; Human hair; Internal contamination; Radioactive polonium