Effect of Zn-DTPA therapy on the maternal transfer of 241Am or 237Pu to young mice.

Newborn mice exposed to 241Am or 237Pu during gestation and whose mothers were given Zn-DTPA at various times before parturition contained less radioactivity than comparable newborn mice given identical 241Am or 237Pu exposure without Zn-DTPA treatment of the mothers. There was no net increase in radionuclide transfer from mothers to unborn young as a result of maternal administration of Zn-DTPA, regardless of the pregnancy stage during which the radioactivity and decorporation treatments were given. Administration of 241Am followed after three days by extended Zn-DTPA therapy resulted in lower fetal content of radioactivity in litters conceived long after or soon after maternal exposure to 241Am. These data indicate that the risk from Am and Pu to unborn young can be reduced by Zn-DTPA treatment of the pregnant mother and of the female who becomes pregnant subsequently. This information may prove to be of significance with the increasing probability of Am or Pu exposure to women in the nuclear industry who could be pregnant at the time or who may conceive a child in the future.