Kinetics of lead storage in teeth and bones: an epidemiologic approach

Lead content in teeth of three Belgian populations with different exposures are considered in the framework of a three-compartment model describing lead exchanges in the body. The value of the first-order kinetic constant governing the transfer of lead from blood to teeth is shown to be approximately 1.85 yr-1, which is in good agreement with other studies using stable isotope tracers on a few subjects. Application of these findings to bones, where, contrary to teeth, remobilization processes cannot be neglected, leads to a tentative estimation of the rates of lead output from various kinds of bones, on the basis of epidemiologic data on their lead contents reported in the literature.