Forty-eight beagle dogs were exposed to plutonium dioxide aerosols of three particle size distributions. The aerosol concentrations ranged from 10-7 to 10-3 μc per cm3 air and the total amount of plutonium deposited in the dogs varied from 0.01 to 100 μc during exposure periods that ranged from 10 to 30 min. Total deposition in dogs exposed to aerosols with Count Median Diameters of 0.086, 0.43, and 0.60 μ averaged 4, 30, and 60 per cent, respectively, of the total amount of plutonium inhaled. For all particle sizes the percentage of plutonium apparently deposited in the alveoli of the lung increased with decreasing microcuries of deposited plutonium. For a given amount of plutonium deposited, the percentage deposited in the alveoli was greatest for the aerosol with particles of the largest median diameter. The rates of pulmonary clearance, translocation and excretion in both urine and feces were greatest for the aerosol with particles of the smallest median diameters. In comparing the three aerosols it was concluded that all processes favored pulmonary deposition and retention of Pu239O2 inhaled as an aerosol with the largest Count Median Diameter, 0.60 μ.
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Bair et al. (1963) studied this question.