A Rapid Method for the Measurement of the Absolute Activity of Carbon-14 in Pea Plant Tissue

  • Kendall, F.H. (Dept. of Chemistry, Sir John Cass College) ;
  • Park, Chang-Kyu (A.R.C. Unit of Plant Physiology, Imperial College) ;
  • Mer, C.L. (A.R.C. Unit of Plant Physiology, Imperial College)
  • Published : 1975.06.30

Abstract

A rapid method for the measurement of the absolute activity of carbon-14 in cotyledons and root of etiolated pea seedlings has been developed. Fresh tissue was frozen in liquid air, ground and suspended in gel phosphor and subjected to measurement for its radioactivity by liquid scintillation counter. Apparent activity of the suspended tissue sample calculated by counting efficiency value obtained by internal standardisation, was found to be related to absolute activity of the tissue, determined by flask combustion technique, by a constant factor. Once this factor is determined experimentally, analysis of C-14 lebelled tissue involves only fairly simple suspension counting by liquid scintillation counter. Present method appears to be applicable to other tissues tagged with C-14.

완두유묘의 자엽 및 뿌리조직중 탄소-14 방사능을 Liquid scintillation counter로 신속히 측정하는 새로운 방법에 관하여 실험하였다. 식물조직을 액체공기에 처리하여 분쇄한 다음 Gel phosphor에 헌탁시켜, Liquid scintillation counter로 측정하였다. 이시료에 다시 내부표준물질을 가한 다음 계측효율을 구하여 Apparent absolute activity를 얻었다. 이렇게 얻은 헌탁시료의 절대방사능은 자기 흡수현상 때문에, 따로 Flask combustion 방법으로 구한 절대방사능 보다는 낮았으나, 항상 비례하였다. 따라서 동일한 실험조건하에서 상술한 비율을 얻으면, 완두조직중 탄소-14의 점대방사능은, 비교적 간편한 헌탁측정(suspension counting) 만으로 가능하였다. 본방법은 완두 외에 다른 식물조직중 탄소-14 분석에도 쓰일 수 있다.

Keywords