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LIQUID SCINTILLATION ARTICLES

Counting Carbon Dioxide by LSC

By National Diagnostics | December 1, 2011 | Comments Off on Counting Carbon Dioxide by LSC

Prior to the introduction of liquid scintillation counting, a primary route of radiotracer analysis was to combust the organic material and detect the 14CO2 so generated in a gas phase proportional counter. Many protocols still…

Measurement of Radiation and Isotope Quantitation

By National Diagnostics | December 1, 2011 | Comments Off on Measurement of Radiation and Isotope Quantitation

Most research applications of radioisotopes require an eventual quantitation of the isotope, which is done by measuring the intensity of radiation emitted. Common nomenclature expresses this intensity as disintegrations per minute (DPM). The becquerel (Bq)…

Liquid Scintillation and Radiation Safety

By National Diagnostics | October 14, 2011 | Comments Off on Liquid Scintillation and Radiation Safety

Working with radioactive isotopes requires diligent attention to safety measures, in order to avoid hazardous exposure(s). Because radioactivity cannot be detected without instrumentation, spills can easily be spread through and even out of the lab…

HPLC Flow Counting

By National Diagnostics | October 14, 2011 | Comments Off on HPLC Flow Counting

Radiolabeled materials are often analyzed by chromatography. The original application of liquid scintillation counting to chromatographic techniques was to collect and count discrete fractions. This manner of counting is extremely laborious, and resolution is limited…

Preparing Samples in PAGE Gels for LSC

By National Diagnostics | October 14, 2011 | Comments Off on Preparing Samples in PAGE Gels for LSC

Complex radioactive samples are often fractionated on polyacrylamide gels. Analysis of radiolabeled samples in electrophoretic gels follow the same pattern as that on TLC plates. The gel is analyzed as a whole for radioactive bands,…

Preparing Tissue Samples for Scintillation Counting

By National Diagnostics | October 14, 2011 | Comments Off on Preparing Tissue Samples for Scintillation Counting

Samples of animal or plant tissue are rarely thin or small enough to allow for full counting efficiency. Homogenization of such samples will allow them to be dispersed into a cocktail, but processing large numbers…

Counting Samples on Cellulose-Ester Filters

By National Diagnostics | October 14, 2011 | Comments Off on Counting Samples on Cellulose-Ester Filters

A common radiotracer technique is to precipitate macromolecules (protein & DNA) with TCA or some other strong denaturant, collect the precipitate on a filter and count it. Often such procedures give variable results, depending upon…

Counting Samples from TLC Plates by LSC

By National Diagnostics | October 14, 2011 | Comments Off on Counting Samples from TLC Plates by LSC

In a typical TLC experiment, the radioactivity is detected at two points: after TLC it is analyzed by autoradiography, to locate radioactive spots. These spots are then scraped off of the plate and counted to…

Waste Disposal Issues in Scintillation Counting

By National Diagnostics | October 14, 2011 | Comments Off on Waste Disposal Issues in Scintillation Counting

An aspect of LSC which must be considered in experimental design, is waste disposal. Unlike solid scintillation, LSC adds components to the sample increasing the volume of radioactive material by up to 1000 fold. The…

Chemiluminescence and Static Electricity

By National Diagnostics | October 14, 2011 | Comments Off on Chemiluminescence and Static Electricity

Another commonly encountered artifact is chemiluminescence. This is caused by any chemical reaction which generates an excited product molecule, which decays to emit light. These reactions generate only a single photon, which may be quenched,…