Lead and cadmium in hair as an indicator of body burden in rats of different age.

The purpose of this work was to evaluate whether hair values of lead and cadmium can be used as an indicator of the body burden of these metals in different age groups. The experiments were performed on rats aged 2 and 18 weeks, which received 203Pb and 115mCd by intraperitoneal injection. The whole body retention and the retention of these radioisotopes in the hair (including the skin) was determined 7 days later. Younger animals showed a higher retention in the whole body and hair of radioactive lead and cadmium. The hair values when expressed as the percentage of the whole body retention were for 203Pb the same in young and adult rats but for 115mCd they were 2 to 3 times higher in young animals than in adults. It is concluded that lead hair values are a good indicator of the total body burden in both age groups. However, the cadmium body burden of young animals would be greatly overestimated if based on hair values only. This findings might be relevant for interpreting results of hair concentrations of lead and cadmium in children.