Transfer of Polonium to the Embryo and Foetus of Rat and Guinea Pig

Abstract

Transfer of ²¹⁰Po to the foetus measured 3 days after administration in rat and 7 days later in guinea pig increased with increasing gestational age to about 0·1% injected activity per rat foetus at birth and 0·6% per guinea pig foetus on day 57, corresponding to whole-body foetus:mother concentration ratios of about 0·1:1 in both species. The greatest concentrations of ²¹⁰Po were measured in the rat yolk sac during its haemopoietic stage, an order of magnitude greater than concentrations in the placenta and two orders of magnitude greater than foetal concentrations. The results obtained have been used to estimate in utero doses to haemopoietic tissues, taking account of transfer to the blastocyst/egg cylinder, yolk sac, liver and bone marrow. The concentration ratios relative to maternal liver for these tissues were taken to be 1, 3, 0·1 and 0·05 respectively and were applied to periods of human gestation of 0–2·5, 2·5–6, 6–12 and 12–38 weeks respectively. For chronic maternal intake by ingestion of ²¹⁰Po during the year of pregnancy giving a committed effective dose (CED) to the mother of 1 mSv, the total in utero dose to haemopoietic tissue was about 340 μSv compared with a maternal red bone marrow dose of 2·2 mSv. The yolk sac and bone marrow accounted for 66 and 27% of the in utero dose respectively. In addition, the total CED to the offspring was calculated assuming a whole-body foetus:mother concentration ratio of 0·1:1 and that the distribution of ²¹⁰Po between tissues was the same in the foetus as in adults and children. For chronic intake of ²¹⁰Po during the year of pregnancy as assumed above, the CED to the offspring was estimated to be 8% of that to the mother.