Association of polonium-210 with blood.

Abstract

Summary1. When whole blood from polonium-injected rats or dogs was centrifugally fractionated, it was found that approximately 90% of the polonium was associated with the red blood cells. 2. Isolation of hemoglobin from similar blood indicated that the polonium was associated with this portion of the red blood cell. Fractionation of hemoglobin into globin and heme indicated that almost all of the polonium was associated with the globin. Measurement of the affinity of major red blood cell components for polonium demonstrated that globin had as much affinity as lysed whole red cells, while heme residue had practically none. 3. Chemical methods which rely on a change in hydrogen ion concentration for the isolation of polonium containing red blood cell components were not satisfactory.