Accumulation of Strontium-90 in Dental Tissues

Abstract

WEANLING rabbits given single injections of 500–1,000 µc. strontium-90 per kgm. showed a high frequency of tumours of the jaw¹, and preliminary histological studies suggest that they arose in close relation to the teeth. The amount of strontium-90 accumulated in individual teeth and in all teeth of one upper quadrant of the jaw after a single intravenous injection of 100 µc. strontium-90 per kgm. is given in Table 1. The amount of strontium-90 in the teeth is seen to increase with time after injection for at least thirty days and then to fall abruptly. The teeth of the rabbit grow continuously, and strontium-90 is lost because the layers in which the strontium is initially deposited erupt into occlusion and are later worn away in mastication. A similar sudden loss of strontium-90 from the teeth of the rat may be seen autoradiographically².