Radioactive tracer

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Please improve this article if you can. (October 2007)

A radioactive tracer, also called a radioactive label, is a substance containing a radioisotope. Tracers can be used to measure the speed of chemical processes and to track the movement of a substance through a natural system such as a cell or a tissue.[1] Radioactive tracing was developed by George de Hevesy.

In medicine tracers are applied in autoradiography and nuclear medicine, including single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and positron emission tomography.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rennie M (1999). "An introduction to the use of tracers in nutrition and metabolism". Proc Nutr Soc 58 (4): 935-44. doi:10.1017/S002966519900124X. PMID 10817161. 
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