| The work within identifies the volume of distribution (VD) of plutonium using data from studies in which rats were administered an intravenous bolus injection of 239Pu4+-citrate. The research investigated two separate datasets. Data published in Dr. P.W. Durbin’s “Plutonium Deposition Kinetics in Rats” and studies conducted by Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute(LRRI) were examined. The goal of this research was to identify a value of VDconsistent with the known biological and physiological behavior of plutonium. The identified VDis necessary to develop a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model. Thecreation of a PBPK model describing the behavior of plutonium in the body enables the comparison of transfer rates to validate the compartment models currently in use for internal dosimetry purposes. The VDof a substance describes the distribution between intracellular and extracellular fluid compartments, providing information such as cellular uptake and protein binding. The VDtime profiles and values found using the Durbin data were consistent with known behavior of plutonium. The VDvalues found usingdata provided by LRRI were not consistent with known behavior of plutonium, however the VDtime profiles generated may still be of use for PBPK modelling.Key Words: volume of distribution, Pu-239, PBPK, compartment model, internal dosimetry |