1993 Volume 8 Issue 6 Pages 1261-1271
A new radioactivity detector, a bioimage analyzer, was coupled to a commercially available image analyzer to establish an image analyzing system for radioactive thin-layer chromatography. An image showing radioactivity distribution was obtained by the bioimage analyzer and transferred to the image analyzer. At this step, the transfer program could detect most of the locations of radioactive spots automatically. The operation required was, therefore, greatly simplified. The relative amount of radioactivity in each spot was determined by using the image analyzing system. The results were compared with those obtained by the conventional scraping method followed by the liquid scintillation counting. Both methods gave identical results. The image analyzing method was superior to the conventional method in that i) quick determination was possible, ii) it showed greater sensitivity and iii) the amount of radioactive waste could be reduced. Furthermore, the image data and the data showing the spot area selection could be stored in a magnetic-optical disc. Hence the determination using the image analyzing system was readily checked and reexamined when required.
