Effects of combined exposure of F344 rats to inhaled {sup 239}PuO{sub 2} and a chemical carcinogen (NNK)

Workers in nuclear weapons facilitates have a significant potential for exposure to chemical carcinogens and to radiation from external sources or from internally deposited radionuclides such as {sup 239}Pu. Although the carcinogenic effects of inhaled {sup 239}Pu and many chemicals have been studied individually, very little information is available on their combined effects. One chemical carcinogen that workers could be exposed to, via tobacco smoke, is the tobacco-specific nitrosamine 4-(N-Methyl-N-nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), a product of the curing of tobacco and pyrolysis of nicotine in tobacco. NNK causes lung tumors in rats, regardless of the route of administration and to a lesser extent tumors in the liver, nasal passages, and pancreas. The purpose of this study is to characterize the effects of combined exposure of rats to NNK and internally deposited plutonium, as well as to these agents alone.