Structure of a single model to describe plutonium and americium decorporation by DTPA treatments.

The aim of this study is to propose a single modeling structure to describe both plutonium and americium decorporation by DTPA, which is based on hypotheses mostly validated by experimental data. Decorporation efficacy of extracellular retention depends on the concentration ratio of DTPA vs. actinides and varies in each compartment according to the amount of biological ligands and their affinity for actinides. By contrast, because the relatively long residence time of DTPA after its cell internalization and the stability of actinide-DTPA complexes, intracellular decorporation efficacy is mainly controlled by a DTPA/actinide ratio, which is specific to each retention compartment. Although the affinity of DTPA is much lower for americium than for plutonium, a larger decorporation of americium can be obtained, which is explained by different biological ligands and/or their affinity for the actinide. Altogether, these results show that the relative contribution of intra vs. extracellular decorporation varies depending on the actinide, the chemical form of radionuclides, the galenic formulation of DTPA, and the treatment schedule.