Non-invasive imaging of radiocesium dynamics in a living animal using a positron-emitting Cs tracer

鈴井 伸郎*; 柴田 卓弥; 尹 永根*; 船木 善仁*; 栗田 圭輔; 保科 宏行*; 山口 充孝*; 藤巻 秀*; 瀬古 典明*; 渡部 浩司*; et al.

Scientific Reports (Internet), 10, p.16155_1 - 16155_9, 2020/10

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73351-2

Visualizing the dynamics of cesium (Cs) is desirable to understand the impact of radiocesium when accidentally ingested or inhaled by humans. The positron-emitting nuclide Cs was produced using the I (, 4n) Cs reaction, which was induced by irradiation of sodium iodide with a He beam from a cyclotron. We excluded sodium ions by using a material that specifically adsorbs Cs as a purification column and successfully eluted Cs by flowing a solution of ammonium sulfate into the column. We injected the purified Cs tracer solution into living rats and the dynamics of Cs were visualized using positron emission tomography; the distributional images showed the same tendency as the results of previous studies using disruptive methods. Thus, this method is useful for the non-invasive investigation of radiocesium in a living animal.