The performance of a CCD digital autoradiography imaging system

Autoradiography is a widely used technique for imaging trace quantities of radioactivity within biological samples, conventionally using photographic film. This method produces images with high spatial resolution, but it suffers from very low sensitivity and poor dynamic range. Digital autoradiograp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics in medicine & biology 2000-07, Vol.45 (7), p.2011-2027
Main Authors: Ott, R J, MacDonald, J, Wells, K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Applied radiobiology (equipment, dosimetry...)
Autoradiography - instrumentation
Autoradiography - methods
Beta Particles
Biological and medical sciences
Biological effects of radiation
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Carbon Radioisotopes
Charge coupled devices
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - instrumentation
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods
Iodine Radioisotopes
Medical imaging
Photographic films
Radiographic Image Enhancement - methods
Radioisotopes
Radionuclide Imaging
Rats
Temperature
Time Factors
Tissues, organs and organisms biophysics
X-Rays
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Summary:Autoradiography is a widely used technique for imaging trace quantities of radioactivity within biological samples, conventionally using photographic film. This method produces images with high spatial resolution, but it suffers from very low sensitivity and poor dynamic range. Digital autoradiography systems with greatly improved sensitivity and linearity are commercially available, but the spatial resolution is usually much less than that achieved using film. We report here the design, construction and characterization of a novel digital autoradiography system based on scientific-grade charged coupled devices (CCDs). Images of x-ray and beta emissions from radionuclides commonly used in autoradiography show that the system can perform high-speed quantitative imaging with a spatial resolution of approximately 30, microm. Using a frame by frame acquisition method the dynamic range is shown to be at least three orders of magnitude. The absolute detection efficiency is comparable to the best of the currently available digital systems. CCD images of 125I and 14C radioisotope distributions in tissue samples are superior to the equivalent film images and have been acquired in 1-10% of the time.
ISSN:0031-9155
1361-6560
DOI:10.1088/0031-9155/45/7/322