An MCP-based system for beta autoradiography

Describes a pre-commercial prototype autoradiography system which can be used to image a variety of radio-labelled biological samples, ranging from lymphocyte proliferation assays to semi-thin whole-body tissue slices. These samples can be imaged with high spatial resolution (/spl sim/70 microns) and high sensitivity (e.g. /sup 3/H-minimum detectable activity 0.001 Bq in 20 hours) over a wide (5-6 orders of magnitude) dynamic range. Specimens are automatically presented, through a vacuum load-lock, to an imaging microchannel plate (MCP) detector operating in high (/spl sim/10/sup -6/ mbar) vacuum. We present images obtained from tritium-labelled samples and discuss the importance of the new system for a variety of biological techniques.