THE ROLE OF A NEW LIQUID-SOLID SCINTILLATOR, A MIXTURE OF DPO, POPOP AND EPON-812, FOR ENHANCEMENT OF AUTORADIOGRAMS WITH TRITIUM AGENTS

It is desirable to shorten expose time in H-3-autoradiography. We deve loped a new solid scintillator, a mixture of DPO, POPOP and Epon 812, for whole-body autoradiography. The new scintillator is originally in a sol form, bur quickly transforms to a solid homogeneous film followi ng exposure to room air. The new scintillator enabled whole-body autor adiography to be developed faster when compared with a liquid scintill ator or commercially available reagents. We also demonstrated that the new scintillator gave consistently high counting performance and thus shortened duration of exposure when used in whole-body autoradiograph y, whereas commercially available enhancers were found to be unsuitabl e for autoradiography, resulting in dappled images. Furthermore the qu antitative analyses of the autoradiograms by a densitometer demonstrat ed the highest density, and,ratio with this new solid scintillator amo ng those with a liquid scintillator and commercially available reagent s. In conclusion, a, new solid scintillator, a mixture of DPO, POPOP a nd Epon 812, is a useful and cost effective enhancer for the whole-bod y autoradiography of tritum compounds.