Bone seeker

Chemical element that accumulates in human and animal bones

A bone seeker is an element, often a radioisotope, that tends to accumulate in the bones of humans and other animals when it is introduced into the body.

For example, strontium and radium are chemically similar to calcium and can replace the calcium in bones.^[1]^[2] Plutonium is also a bone seeker, though the mechanism by which it accumulates in bone tissue is unknown.^[3]

Radioactive bone seekers are particular health risks as they irradiate surrounding tissue, though this can be useful for radiotherapy – radium-223 is used in this way.^[2]^[4] Stable bone seekers can also be harmful: excessive strontium absorption has been linked with increased levels of rickets.^[5]^[6] The salt strontium ranelate, however, is a bone seeker which is sometimes used to strengthen bones as a treatment for osteoporosis.^[7] Bone seekers have been proposed as a method of delivering antibiotics to infected bone tissue.^[8]

References

^ "Radionuclide Basics: Strontium-90". www.epa.gov. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
^ ^a ^b Suominen, Mari I.; Wilson, Timothy; Käkönen, Sanna-Maria; Scholz, Arne (10 August 2019). "The Mode-of-Action of Targeted Alpha Therapy Radium-223 as an Enabler for Novel Combinations to Treat Patients with Bone Metastasis". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 20 (16): 3899. doi:10.3390/ijms20163899. PMC 6720648. PMID 31405099.
^ Vidaud, Claude; Miccoli, Laurent; Brulfert, Florian; Aupiais, Jean (26 November 2019). "Fetuin exhibits a strong affinity for plutonium and may facilitate its accumulation in the skeleton". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 17584. Bibcode:2019NatSR...917584V. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53770-6. PMC 6879641. PMID 31772265.
^ Marques, I.A.; Neves, A.R.; Abrantes, A.M.; Pires, A.S.; Tavares-da-Silva, E.; Figueiredo, A.; Botelho, M.F. (July 2018). "Targeted alpha therapy using Radium-223: From physics to biological effects". Cancer Treatment Reviews. 68: 47–54. doi:10.1016/j.ctrv.2018.05.011. PMID 29859504.
^ Ozgur, S; Sumer, H; Kocoglu, G (1 December 1996). "Rickets and soil strontium". Archives of Disease in Childhood. 75 (6): 524–526. doi:10.1136/adc.75.6.524. PMC 1511822. PMID 9014608.
^ RELEVANCE TO PUBLIC HEALTH. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (US). April 2004. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
^ Blake, Glen M; Fogelman, Ignac (December 2006). "Strontium ranelate: a novel treatment for postmenopausal osteoporosis: a review of safety and efficacy". Clinical Interventions in Aging. 1 (4): 367–375. doi:10.2147/ciia.2006.1.4.367. PMC 2699648. PMID 18046914.
^ Rotman, Stijn G.; Thompson, Keith; Grijpma, Dirk W.; Richards, Robert G.; Moriarty, Thomas F.; Eglin, David; Guillaume, Olivier (March 2020). "Development of bone seeker–functionalised microspheres as a targeted local antibiotic delivery system for bone infections". Journal of Orthopaedic Translation. 21: 136–145. doi:10.1016/j.jot.2019.07.006. PMC 7152806. PMID 32309139.

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Radiation oncology

Specific
therapies

Teletherapy¹

by photon	Superficial X-rays Orthovoltage X-rays Megavoltage X-rays Radiosurgery / Stereotactic radiation therapy Cyberknife Gamma Knife Cobalt therapy
by electron	Electron therapy
by hadron	Particle therapy fast neutron neutron-capture proton