The distribution of intracellular alkali metals in Reference Man

Abstract

The authors re-evaluate the distribution of the intracellular alkali metals in humans and offer an approach for selecting reference concentrations for the organs of a typical adult human. For non-skeletal tissues, reference values for K, Rb and Cs are determined as a trimmed weighted mean of reported values remaining after studies involving apparently questionable populations or measurement techniques have been eliminated. The skeleton is treated as a special case, with explicit consideration being given to the heterogeneous distribution of these elements among different regions and different types of skeletal tissue. The most significant suggested changes for the intracellular alkali metals are for Rb in the skeleton and total body. ICRP Reference Man has a total Rb content of 0.68 g, compared with the present estimate of only 0.25 g, and a skeletal Rb content of 0.21 g, compared with an estimate of only 0.013 g. This has important dosimetric implications for radiorubidium.