Clearance of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals in vivo. I. Studies using 169Yb labeled triclinic crystals.

Synthetic triclinic calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals were uniformly trace-labeled with Ytterbium-169 (169Yb), a pure gamma-emitting isotope with a halflife of 31 days. The solubility of the labeled crystals was similar to that of cold synthetic crystals. The clearance rate of labeled sterile crystals, sieved to obtain the desired size, was determined after injection of microgram quantities into 4 arthritic huuman and 3 normal adult rabbit joints and corrected by the observed rate of clearance of free 169Yb. The derived rate constants were then used to calculate the time required for half of the injected dose of CPPD to be cleared from the joint. Crystal clearance was found in all instances. Crystal removal from normal rabbit joints was much more rapid than from the much larger human arthritic joints and was inversely proportional to the size of the crystals injected.