Effects of liver's state of health on its iron and plutonium content.

Purpose: Plutonium and iron share a common metabolism in terms of their transportation and accumulation in the human body. This study examined their concentrations in livers with different states of health, and the effects of fatty degeneration and cirrhosis on their accumulation in the liver.

Materials and methods: We determined the concentrations of plutonium and iron in autopsy liver samples from 1976-1979. Using statistical analysis, we investigated the relationships between the different variables.

Results and conclusions: The burdens of ^239,240Pu and Fe correlated positively (R_s = 0.411) in the healthy livers, but not in the livers that had pathological findings. In contrast to the Fe content, the ^239,240Pu content in the fatty degenerated or cirrhotic livers was significantly lower than that in normal livers. This difference may suggest that plutonium and iron do not accumulate or are not excreted in the same way in fatty degenerated and cirrhotic livers. The reaction mechanisms for the binding and excretion of plutonium, particularly in a fatty degenerated liver, are not yet fully known.