Lead accumulation in the bones of aging male mice

The lead content of mouse femurs increased by 83% between 76 and 958 days of age with values ranging from 0.192 to 1.78 ng Pb/mg dry weight. These values are remarkably lower than in previous reports for the lead content of bone. The lead content of mouse liver showed no aging-related trend with values ranging from 0.00823 to 0.0149 ng/mg dry weight. Bone density, calcium and collagen content were not related to the lead content. We conclude that while bone lead content is very low in mice, it increases with aging but does not appear to be related to the osteopenia which develops in the C57BL/6J male mouse.