A radioactive tracer, radiotracer, or radioactive label is a synthetic derivative of a natural compound in which one or more atoms have been replaced by a radionuclide (a radioactive atom). By virtue of its radioactive decay, it can be used to explore the mechanism of chemical reactions by tracing the path that the radioisotope follows from reactants to products. Radiolabeling or radiotracing is thus the radioactive form of isotopic labeling. In biological contexts, experiments that use radioisotope tracers are sometimes called radioisotope feeding experiments.
Radioisotopes of hydrogen, carbon, phosphorus, sulfur, and iodine have been used extensively to trace the path of biochemical reactions. A radioactive tracer can also be used to track the distribution of a substance within a natural system such as a cell or tissue,[1] or as a flow tracer to track fluid flow. Radioactive tracers are also used to determine the location of fractures created by hydraulic fracturing in natural gas production.[2] Radioactive tracers form the basis of a variety of imaging systems, such as, PET scans, SPECT scans and technetium scans. Radiocarbon dating uses the naturally occurring carbon-14 isotope as an isotopic label.
^Rennie MJ (November 1999). "An introduction to the use of tracers in nutrition and metabolism". The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 58 (4): 935–44. doi:10.1017/S002966519900124X. PMID 10817161.
^Reis, John C. (1976). Environmental Control in Petroleum Engineering. Gulf Professional Publishers.
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A radioactivetracer, radiotracer, or radioactive label is a synthetic derivative of a natural compound in which one or more atoms have been replaced...
for both diagnosis and treatment. An imaging tracer made with radionuclides is called a radioactivetracer. A pharmaceutical drug made with radionuclides...
pharmaceutical drugs that are radioactive). Radiopharmaceuticals are used in the field of nuclear medicine as radioactivetracers in medical imaging and in...
tissues Isotopic tracer, a substance with an isotope that has been enriched to a greater level than that found in nature Radioactivetracer, a substance containing...
does not vary due to radioactive decay). Stable isotope labeling involves the use of non-radioactive isotopes that can act as a tracers used to model several...
Radioactive sources are used for logging formation parameters. Radioactivetracers, along with the other substances in hydraulic-fracturing fluid, are...
self-illuminating key chains. It is used in a medical and scientific setting as a radioactivetracer. Tritium is also used as a nuclear fusion fuel, along with more abundant...
containing gamma-emitting tracer isotopes is used to trace and measure fractures.[citation needed] A 1995 study found that radioactivetracers were used in over...
cobalt-59. Cobalt-60 is a commercially important radioisotope, used as a radioactivetracer and for the production of high-energy gamma rays. Cobalt is also used...
would be inappropriate to proceed with injecting the patient with the radioactivetracer. When the benefit does justify the procedure, then the radiation exposure...
industry in a similar manner for leak detection as a Radioactivetracer. Disposal of expired radioactive sources presents similar challenges to the disposal...
years, the half-life of tritium. Beta-plus (or positron) decay of a radioactivetracer isotope is the source of the positrons used in positron emission tomography...
laureate, recognized in 1943 for his key role in the development of radioactivetracers to study chemical processes such as in the metabolism of animals...
chemical tracer which is attracted to or concentrated by the activity which is being studied. That chemical tracer incorporates a short lived radioactive isotope...
current scans). The same tracer may also be used for the diagnosis of types of dementia. Less often, other radioactivetracers, usually but not always...
gum, biocides, emulsion breakers, emulsifiers, 2-butoxyethanol, and radioactivetracer isotopes. Proppants have greater permeability than small mesh proppants...
determined through the dilution principle (i.e. similar as the case for radioactivetracer methods). Although CO gas in large volumes is toxic to humans, the...
it can be used by nuclear medicine physicians as a radioactivetracer for SPECT where the radioactive isotope is iodine-123 or iodine-125. The main purpose...
retained.[citation needed] 40 K has also been extensively used as a radioactivetracer in studies of weathering.[citation needed] All other potassium isotopes...
piece of information that is difficult to acquire by other means. Tracers can be radioactive or chemical, gas or liquid and have been used extensively in the...
the health and function of the gallbladder and biliary system. A radioactivetracer is injected through any accessible vein and then allowed to circulate...
sufficient accuracy to determine GFR. GFR can be accurately measured using radioactive substances, in particular chromium-51 and technetium-99m. These come...
desired after iodine uptake by the tissue. Iodine-131 is also used as a radioactivetracer. Iodine is quite reactive, but it is much less reactive than the other...
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