Landau Lab

Methods/Autoradiography

Autoradiography and tissue

Radioligand binding on thin brain sections, at far finer detail than PET, together with analyses of the same brains.

01 What autoradiography sees

Binding on sections, and its limits

Four coronal rat brain autoradiograms of [3H]UCB-J binding at striatal level, arranged saline versus 6-OHDA and sedentary versus exercised, with dashed circles over the left and right striatum.Autoradiography

Ex vivo · brain sections

Autoradiography & tissue analyses

Measures
Radioligand binding on thin brain sections, quantified against standards — together with histological, molecular and neurochemical analyses of the same brains.
Strength
Far finer spatial detail than PET. Specificity can be checked directly by blocking, and several targets can be measured in the same brains.
Alone, can't
Follow change over time: each brain gives one time point, and binding is measured under conditions that differ from the living brain.

[3H]UCB-J autoradiograms (SV2A) in saline- and 6-OHDA-lesioned rats, sedentary or exercised; warmer colours mean more binding (relative scale). Binda et al., Exp Neurol 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.expneurol.2021.113741 · CC BY 4.0, cropped.

02 Real-time autoradiography

Counting as it happens

Real-time autoradiographyThe BeaQuantHow the BeaQuant reads tritium tracers on brain sections in hours.Read →Film · 1 minSame target, two measurementsWhy we pair PET in the living brain with autoradiography in tissue, shown with [11C]UCB-J and [3H]UCB-J.Watch →
In vivoPETImaging the living brain over timeRead →Ex vivoReal-time autoradiographyHow the BeaQuant reads tritium tracers on brain sections in hoursRead →FunctionBehaviourWhat animals do, linked to molecular changeRead →ModelsRodents and minipigsChoosing the model for the questionRead →OverviewMethods overviewHow the methods fit together, and selected methods papers.Back →