Experimental approaches to improve the available chelator treatments for Np decorporation

This paper discusses biokinetic and decorporation data in animals after contamination by Pu and Np in order to develop new experimental approaches for improving the efficacy of human treatment. Only contamination by intravenous or intramuscular injection of soluble forms has been considered here. For Pu(IV) administered as citrate, the kinetics of deposition in body tissues is slow enough so that the main circulating chemical form for potential chelation, the Pu-transferrin complex, is available for decorporation within hours after contamination. Several decorporation studies have shown a gradual decrease of the efficacy of a given chelating agent for Pu(IV), Np(IV) and Np(V) at early times after contamination. Recently, a gradual decrease of blood clearance rate has been reported for Np(V), Np(IV) and Pu(IV), and attributed to a gradual increase of the rate of actinide deposition in the skeleton. Thus, taking into account the early deposition kinetics of Np in the body tissues, the ligand 3,4,3-LIHOPO could be an effective chelating agent for removing Np(IV) from body fluids. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.