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1431945 
Technical Report 
A Study Of The Distribution And Excretion Of Uranium In Man. An Interim Report 
Bernard, SR; Struxness, EG 
1957 
Yes 
NIOSH/00132044 
U 
English 
The distribution and excretion of uranium (7440611) was investigated in eight terminally ill patients injected with either hexavalent-uranium (UVI) or tetravalent-uranium (16089604) (UIV). The patients were in the terminal phase of severe irreversible central nervous system disease with malignant brain tumors. At the time of intravenous injection of 4 to 50 milligrams (mg) uranium, all but two patients were in a coma. Uranium was determined in urine, blood, soft tissue, and feces by electrode position and by evaporation, with subsequent alpha counting. Biopsy samples of bone taken 30 minutes postinjection contained 7.6 percent of the injected dose per 7000 grams bone. The average uranium deposits in bone ranged from 0.5 to 9.1 percent. Patients who received UVI excreted an average of 69 percent of the injected uranium in urine, while those who received UIV excreted only 18.5 percent. Excretion rates rose to a maximum at 3.5 hours after 50mg of uranium were injected. This rise was less distinct at doses of 15mg and not apparent for doses of 4mg. Negligible fractions of the injected doses were excreted in feces. Autopsy findings revealed that bones and reticuloendothelial tissues, liver and spleen, contained heavier deposits of UIV, while bones and kidneys contained the major deposits of UVI. Concentrations of uranium were higher in tumorous brain than in normal brain tissue. In one patient, the uranium concentration in brain tumor was 0.14 percent of injected dose per thousand grams, and in normal brain stem was 0.01 percent. The biological half life of uranium in kidney and in bone was found to be 300 days. Some evidence of chemical toxicity was noted in terms of reduced hematocrits, elevated sedimentation rate, some elevation of leucocytes, decreases in some serum electrolytes, and below normal total protein in the blood of some patients. The authors conclude that present maximum permissible concentrations of uranium in body, air, and urine differ from currently recommended exposure values by no more than a factor of three. 
DCN-122016; Clinical symptoms; Biological effects; Physiological response; Dose response; Pathogenesis; Clinical diagnosis; Biological factors; Toxic effects; Blood analysis