The metabolism of radium in dairy cows.

1. The isotopes (45)Ca and (224)Ra were administered simultaneously, both orally and intravenously, to two pairs of cows. 2. The first pair of animals received large doses of (224)Ra and (45)Ca, which produced clinical and metabolic disturbances. 3. The second pair of animals received much smaller doses and showed no clinical disturbances. The mean recoveries in these animals of (45)Ca and (224)Ra in the 8 days after the oral administration were respectively: from faeces, 63.2 and 103.8%; from urine, 0.26 and 0.44%; from milk, 15.8 and 0.35% of the dose; and in the 8 days after intravenous administration: from faeces, 20.5 and 36.5%; from urine, 1.56 and 17.6%; from milk, 49.3 and 11.8% of the dose. 4. Calculation of discrimination factors shows that absorptive discrimination played the most important part in the overall discrimination between the calcium and radium in their passage from diet to milk, but that mammary discrimination plays a more important role than in the overall discrimination between calcium and strontium or barium. 5. In its treatment by the kidney radium is more like strontium than barium, but radium is actively secreted by the gut in the same way as barium. 6. In its skeletal metabolism radium is indistinguishable from calcium and strontium except in its rate of resorption, which is similar to that of barium.