Abstract
Between 1960 and 1985, Patricia Durbin and colleagues performed studies on the distribution of intravenously and intramuscularly injected Am-241 citrate with dosages ranging from 16 to 32 kBq kg(-1) in 30 male and female non-human primates (NHP). Dr. Durbin died unexpectedly in March of 2009, leaving much of the extensive serial blood, bioassay, and autopsy data from these NHP studies unanalyzed. As part of the experimental design, serial blood samples were taken, and urine and feces samples were collected separately for the duration of the study. The measurements of urine, fecal excretion, blood samples, and organ burden data obtained from the animals were used to evaluate the transfer rates of the ICRP 67 biokinetic model for Am-241. Seven cases, in which the primates were administered Am-241 citrate by intravenous injection, were evaluated using the ICRP 67 systemic model. There were differences ranging from 51.4% underestimated to 102.7% overestimated activity between the predicted intake, which was calculated using IMBA Professional Plus software and based upon the urine bioassay data and the actual activity. The difference between the predicted activity at the time of death in the liver and skeleton using IMBA professional software and the value of the measured activity at the time of death were also compared. Generally, the ratios of predicted activity in the liver and skeleton at the time of death to the measured activity were consistently more than 1. However, the ratios were less than 1 in the skeleton for animals that were sacrificed 2,199 and 973 d post injection. The posterior probability distributions for model parameters derived using WeLMoS method were inconsistent with the ICRP 67 default parameters. The prediction made based on the posterior probability distributions for model parameters derived using WeLMoS gave the best fit to these data; however, the modified parameters overestimated the activity in almost all cases. The difference between the predicted Am activity and the value of the measured activity may be due to the physiological age-related characteristics relative to the age of the animal at the time of the injection and early and long scarified time.