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UNCMMFIED

SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY

OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

CONTRACT W.7405.EN(3. 36 WITH

U.S.ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION

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AP- 6, 1950

Work Done By:

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Series A

-~B

ITUKIMINARYREPORTON HUMANEXCRETIONOF TRITIUM

Ernest C. Anderson

Ernest Pinson

—--––.--L——

This dooument conts!b 8 pages.

Written Bvx

HEALTHAND BIOK)GY

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APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
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HEALTH AND BIOLOGY

COPY NO.

Los Alamos 1-20

STANDARD DISTRIBUTION

Argonne National Laboratory

Armed Forces Special Weapons Project

Atomic Energy Commission, Washington

Battelle Memorial Institute

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation (K-25 Plant)

Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation (Y-12 Plant)

Chicago Operations Office

Columbia University (Dunning)

Columbia University (Fa,illa)

General Electric Comparly, Richland

Idaho Operations Office

Iowa State College

Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory

Mallinckrodt Chemical Works

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Kaufmann)

Mound Laboratory 4

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

National Bureau of Standa.rds

Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory

NEPA Project

New Brunswick Laboratory

New York Operations Office

North American Aviation, Inc.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Patent Branch, Washingtcm

Public Health Service

Sandia Laboratory

Sylvania Electric Products, Inc.

Technical Information Branch, ORE

UCLA Medical Research Laboratory (Warren)

University of California Radiation Laboratory

University of Chicago Toxicity Laboratory

University of Rochester

University of Washington ● 00 9 ● 00 ● 00 ● *

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Western Reserve University (Friel&lli ~“ ~ ~“ ~ ~

Westinghouse Electric Corporation ● * ● ** 9*9 ● ** ● e. ● 9

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21-28

29

30-31

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33-36

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42-45

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55-56

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APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
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RELINIINARYREK)RT ON HUMAN~OR&Ol~ C@ T@lYM i ;

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ErnestC. Andarsonand ErnestPlnscn

An Investigation of “the humanbody water turn-over and of the distribution

and exchange equilibria of body water has been begun at this laboratory using

trltium tracer. In this paper are reported acne prellminarg data which have

been obtainedon the rate of turn-overof body water,,

Six subjectsreceiveda few millicuries of tritilum by inhalation of iso.

topically labeled hydrogen gaa. The concentration of # in the tine of these

Individuals has been followed for a period of some 15 deys. Analyses were

performed by titlowing vapor from the urine to pasa over kt 2n (zinc dust

suspendedon glasswool) in an evacuated &tern. l%e 112produced ~ the reaction - ~0 + ?h ~ H2 +

trap tc remove any unreacted water

tility. The non-condensable gases

hO - was painedthrough a

and other chemical species

were transferred to an Ion

~ ice-cooled

of low volachamber ~

meansof a Toeppler puup. Urine samples of 0.1

a pressure of 412 mm. Hg fn a 250 cc. chamber.

970 mm.with carbondioxideand the ion current

cc. volumewere reducedgiving

The pressure was increased to

measured with a vibrating-reed

electrometer. Relative values only are gi~n in thit) raporte Ion ~n~

of the order of 10 to 100 times background were obtained tin the samples.

Only negligible amounts of material were found condensed in the dry-ice trap

and quantitative measurementswith pure water indicntethat the reduction

procedure is stoichiometri.c to better than 95%.

The rate of excretion of the tritium was found to be constant for a given

subj ect but to vary considerably among individuals. Data on five individuals

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2,

arbitrarilynomaktsed to coincide at sero time are plotted in Figure 1,

showing a range in biological half-life from about 9 dws to nearly 13 -s. 1

Thesevaluesare to be comparedwith the vslue cslti.atedfor the Chalk

River %tandard Mana of 13.5 days,assuming the tmilA= to be confined h

the body water.

Figure 2 showsthe remiltsof a more detailedexperimenton a sixth

subject.

measured

From the

quantity

vities.

eleventh

The dailytotalvolumeof urine excretedby thisindividualwas

for a periodof 6 -s on a %omalrn but uncontrolledwaterintake.

sixthto the tenthday inclusive,the subjectconsumedas large a

of water as was reasonabledting the courseof his normalactiUrinevolumewas measureddailyduringthis periodelse. On the

day, the subjectreturnedto his ‘normalnwaterintake. Duringthe

firstperiod,an averageurine outputof 1.1 lltersper day was observed.

This valuerose b 5.0 liters per day during the middle period. Half-times

of 12.5 days, &$ days and roughly 14.3 days were observed duringtheseperIoda. The abrqt increasesin excretionrate observedtwiceduringthe

thirdperiodmake it difficultto interpretthisportionof the data. It

is believedthat theseperiodsof increasedeliminationcan be correlated

with periods of unusual activity and increased water consumption. Assuming

that the totaltidywaterand the totalwatereliminationin formsother than

the urineremainedconstant,it is possibleto estimatethe effectivesise of

the reservoirfmm whichH:3 is being aiminated. Using only the first and

second periods and letting V1 = volume of water eliminated in the urine

per day; V2 = volume of water eliminated in other forms per day during the

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firstperiod,the primed~bols being the corre”&&& &&&~ the

secondperiod;and V3 = totalvoluneof the H3 re#ermir expressedae

waterequivalent,we hale8

For the

and for

we find

firstperiodla V1 + V2 al .055 day-l

V3

thQ secondperiod: VI + v~ -1 alO.I.& day

Settlngz ‘1 = 1.08 litersper *

Vi = 5.0 litersper ~

V2 = v; and: V3 = v;

that: ‘2 = 1.38 liters per day

V3 = 44kgo

Since Subject #5 has a body weight of 65 kg. the ~reservci~ corms.

pondsto 6S per cent of total body weightin agreanentwith the assumption

that the reservoiris principallybody water with no large degree of ex.

change with other &drogen, although it must be admitted that this calcu.

lation Is not a sensitive test of the assumption. It is kped that further

data on this point will be obtained in future experiments.

It is plannedto measurethe H3 contentof bloodplasma,exhaledwater

vnporand perspirationand to look for any graduallengtheningof the biologicalhalf-timewith ttme after exposure whichmightindicatea slow,

reverelbleexchangewi~ other chemicalformsof hydrogenin the body. Ani.

mal experimentspermittingdetailedexaminationof specificbody organsand

chemicalsfor tritiumuptakeare also planned.

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If it is assumedthat trltiuminhaledas hydrogengas or watervapor

exchangesonly with the water of the Ixx3y, an assumption on which it IS

hoped to obtain som relevant information In the course of these experiments,

it is possibleto calculatea valuefor the amountof tritium

safelybe toleratedin the body. Assumingirradiationof the

which can

body by trltium in

trating

body fhids to be

X- or gamma-S

equivalentto

and using the

an externalIrradiation& peneacceptedtoleranceof 003 m/mek

for this typeof

permissible body

millicurie value

safety factor of

irradiation,ten dllicuries is foundto be the maximum

tolerancefor tritium. This value cliffers from the one

recommendedat ChalkRiverby the arbitraryadditional

ten whioh the committeeelectedto introduce.

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Urine Volume “

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