Distribution and Incorporation of Tritium in the Organs of Ruminants.

A research program on the transfer of tritium in the food chain has been in progress for several years on the experimental farm of the Nuclear Energy Research Centre at Mol. Besides the contamination of grass and fodder by tritiated water and the incorporation of tritium into milk constituents, the authors have also investigated the distribution of tritium in the organs of ruminants contaminated in various ways. Various organs were removed and analyzed for the content of **3H in the tissue water and in the organic matter. Radioactivity was present in the peaks of DNA prepared from the thymi and testicles of a calf which had received 1 mCi THO/d since birth, and from the testicles of a calf which had ingested tritiated powdered milk daily (15 mu Ci/d). Deeper fractionation of the cell constituents of certain organs (thymi, testicles and liver) indicates the degree of incorporation of **3H into lipids, RNA, proteins and DNA.