Plasma clearance and urinary excretion after intravenous injection of stable 84Sr in humans

Systemic kinetics and urinary excretion after intravenous injection of stable strontium 84Sr were evaluated in 42 investigations in human subjects. Tracer concentrations in plasma and urine were determined by thermal ionisation mass spectrometry. The initial strontium plasma clearance measured after tracer administration was found to be much faster than that predicted by the current model of the International Commission of Radiological Protection (ICRP). The biological half-life of the fast component plasma clearance (T(1/2)) was 0.25 h in comparison with 1.1 h of the ICRP value. This early clearance could be the consequence of a more rapid transfer from blood plasma to other compartments of the human body. In vitro blood tests have shown that strontium was not bound to red blood cells. Cumulative urinary excretion is considerably lower than the model prediction. The reason could be the reduced transfer rate of strontium from plasma to urine in the first 12 h after tracer administration. Plasma clearance and urinary excretion showed no dependency on the age or gender of the adult volunteers.