Autoradiography with Tritium Labelled Cell Preparations: Some Physical Factors affecting Image Production in Two Liquid Nuclear Emulsions

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Abstract
Using the “dipping” technique of liquid emulsion autorodiography. the effects ofdevelopment time and temperature. emulsion dilution and storage during exposure were investigated for two emulsions. The mean number of grains produced over labelled cells in tritium labelled cell preparations was taken as a measure of the emulsion’s response. The initial test showed that five minutes was a suitable development time and all subsequent slides were developed for this time period. Further tests showed that for each emulsion there is an optimum development temperature. 16°C. for lIford K5 and 19°C. for Gevaert 7.15, when the ratio of grains due to intranuclear tritium to background grains is highest. It is also shown that diluting the emulsions by about half with water does not impair their efficiency. The stability of the latent image is found to be improved in the case of lIford K5 by the presence ofa drying agent during exposure but the reverse appears to be the case for Gevaert 7.15.