Plastic Scintillators Enable Live Imaging of ³²P-labelled Phosphorus Movement in Large Plants

Abstract

We updated our imaging system, namely real-time radioisotope imaging system (RRIS) to observe 32 P movement in large plants using a large size scintillator. In the previous version of RRIS, the view was limited by the size of a CsI (Tl) scintillator deposited on a fiber optic plate (FOS). However, owing to the high price and difficulty in handling of FOS, the view area was limited to 100×200 mm. In this study, we evaluated 5 large and low-cost plastic scintillators and showed that plastic scintillators can be used in RRIS for the quantitative analysis of 32 P. We also evaluated the resolution of the imaging system with plastic scintillator.

Recent Advances in Radioisotope Imaging Technology for Plant Science Research in Japan

“…The plants were set on the system after exposure to 14 CO 2 . This picture is reproduced from the studies by Sugita et al 2018 [10] and Sugahara et al 2019 [16].…”

“…Recently, we employed plastic scintillators to visualize larger plants ( Figure 2). For example, we obtained an image size of 50 cm × 60 cm for 14 C and 32 P kinetics in plants [10,16]. ( Figure 2).…”

“…( Figure 2). For example, we obtained an image size of 50 cm × 60 cm for 14 C and 32 P kinetics in plants [10,16]. Large sizes of the RRIS using plastic scintillators.…”

Real-Time Element Movement in a Plant

“…However, considering the RIs to be applied, the performances are dependent on the energy and kind of radiation emitted from each nuclide. Seven nuclides, 14 C, 22 Na, 28 Mg, 65 Zn, 86 Rb, 109 Ca, and 137 Cs, were chosen to study the performance of the RRIS. Table 4.1 shows the features of the representative RIs used in the experiment.…”

“…To investigate the self-absorption, 7 nuclides were applied to the Arabidopsis tissue. In the case of 14 C, 14 CO 2 produced by mixing 14 C-sodium hydrogen carbonate and lactic acid was supplied to the plant for 24 h. For the other nuclides, 3, 3, 10, 3, 10, and 0.5 kBq/mL of 22 Na, 28 Mg, 65 Zn, 86 Rb, 109 Cd, and 137 Cs, respectively, were supplied in culture solution and were grown for 3 days. After the treatment, flower parts, including the bulb and shoot tip, silique, stem, rosette leaf, and cauline leaf, were separated from the plant, and the intensity in the images acquired by the RRIS and radiation counts were compared.…”