A Comparison of Skull and Femur Lead Levels in Adult Rats

摘要

The purpose of the study was to elucidate the relationship between skull and femur lead levels in laboratory rats. Forty-eight female rats were given one of four lead chloride drinking water solutions: 0.05, 0.58, 17, or 352 ppm lead. Two animals from each group were sacrificed after 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 24 weeks of treatment. Both femurs and the frontal and parietal bones of the skull were removed from each animal and analyzed for lead concentration by atomic absorption spectroscopy. A significant accumulation of lead was observed in femurs and skull bones only from animals in the 352 ppm lead treatment group. The lead concentrations of the femurs were significantly higher than skull lead concentrations for all groups and this relationship was described using a linear regression equation.