Pulmonary tumours in Syrian hamsters following inhalation of 239PuO2.

Syrian hamsters were exposed to various levels of aerosolized 239PuO2 particles to attain a range of initial lung burdens (medians ranged from 40 to 144 nCi). They were allowed to live without sacrifice and had gross and microscopic tissue examinations at death. Over a range of median lung doses from 4-12 000 rad there was an average 2 per cent incidence of malignant tumours (adenocarcinomas) and 9 per cent incidence of total tumours (primarily adenomas). Some of these results are consistent with those from other laboratories using plutonium oxide aerosols but they represent considerably lower lung tumour incidences than previously observed in this laboratory using aerosols of 238PuO2-ZrO2 particles.