[Biological action of 239Pu during intake by inhalation and complexon therapy with Zn or Ca DTPA under experimental...

The authors described the effect of substantial amounts of plutonium nitrate administered to rats by inhalation in the presence of Zn- or CaDTPA-complexon therapy for 2 months. A 2-fold decrease of absorbed doses in the lung, a 3-fold decrease in the skeleton and a 4-fold decrease in the liver were shown. The mean life of the treated animals was considerably raised. A significant reduction of the frequency of development of severe pneumosclerosis and an increase in the frequency of lung tumor development were noted. In view of the above, complexon therapy should be necessarily recommended during inhalation of radionuclides in substantial amounts.