LBL-70. Studies on Protein-Bound Iodine-131 in Children

During the mid-1950s, researchers at the Departments of Pediatrics and Radiology, University of California Medical School, San Francisco; the San Francisco Veterans Administration Hospital; and the San Francisco Children s Hospital conducted studies to measure protein-bound iodine in human plasma.

Fourteen children ranging in age from 4 to 14 years with poliomyelitis, but normal thyroid function, participated as subjects. Each received oral doses of 10 to 30 microcuries of iodine-131 (I-131) as a tracer. Blood samples were drawn at intervals and the plasma was treated with anionic resin. Samples were counted to determine the amount of plasma protein-bound iodine. When compared with data from another study involving 27 euthyroid (normal thyroid) adults, this study showed that children appear to release protein-bound iodine earlier, and in greater amounts, than adults. The University of California Medical School, San Francisco, received funding from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) through a contractual arrangement, and intermittently shared facilities and personnel with the AEC-funded predecessors to Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

References

Reilly, W.A., K.G. Scott, R.W. Winters, and H.L. Helwig. Anionic Resin Measurement of Protein- Bound I-131 in Euthyroid Children. American Medical Association Journal of Diseases in Children. Vol. 89, 1955, pp. 572 574.

From Human Radiation Experiments Associated with the U.S. Department of Energy and Its Predecessors Department of Energy

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