The Uptake and Redistribution of241Pu within the Gonads

Abstract

Male and female hamsters and a female rabbit were injected with ²⁴¹Pu citrate. The hamsters were killed serially at 15 min, 2 hours, 1 day and 10 days after injection, and the rabbit 1 week after injection. The gonads were examined for ²⁴¹Pu by tissue-section autoradiography. Soon after injection the plutonium was concentrated by the contents of atretic Graafian follicles and by thecal rings in the ovary, but was found to be dispersed throughout the testes. It is suggested that the disperse distribution in the testes which is only seen soon after injection may be an artefact of tissue processing. One day after injection, plutonium was accumulated by macrophages in both the follicles of the ovary and in the interstitial tissue of the testes. Macrophages containing plutonium later migrated away from the atretic ovarian follicles towards the ovarian medulla. This pattern of distribution and redistribution in the ovary is regarded as likely to lower the effective dose from α-emitting plutonium isotopes to the viable oocytes. No migration of macrophages was seen in the testes. Histochemical staining methods revealed the presence of acid protoglycans, including chondroitin sulphate, and glycoproteins at the sites of plutonium concentration in the ovary. These molecules are regarded as likely receptor sites for plutonium. In the testes no acidic carbohydrates were found, and it is suggested that the initial binding site for plutonium may be a compound lipid. This was deduced from the apparent inability of the interstitial tissue of the testes to bind plutonium in situ.