Mrb. Puncher et Pj. Blower, RADIONUCLIDE TARGETING AND DOSIMETRY AT THE MICROSCOPIC LEVEL - THE ROLE OF MICROAUTORADIOGRAPHY, European journal of nuclear medicine, 21(12), 1994, pp. 1347-1365
The understanding of localisation mechanisms and microdosimetry of dia
gnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals depends on knowledge of t
heir biodistribution at the microscopic level (cellular and subcellula
r) in the target tissues. Various methods have been advanced for obtai
ning information about this microdistribution: subcellular fractionati
on, secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging, microprobe elemental anal
ysis in the electron microscope, and microautoradiography. This review
compares these approaches, and discusses in detail the methodology of
microautoradiography (the most generally useful approach) with imagin
g and therapy radionuclides, Literature examples of applications of mi
croautoradiography in nuclear medicine are reviewed, and the future po
tential contribution of the techniques is assessed.