Abstract
.Cerenkov radiation (CR) is the emission of UV-vis light generated by the de-excitation of the molecules in the medium, after being polarized by an excited particle traveling faster than the speed of light. When particles travel through tissue with energies greater than 219 keV, CR occurs. Tissues possess a spectral optical window of 600 to 1100 nm. The CR within this range can be useful for quantitative preclinical studies using optical imaging and for the in-vivo evaluation of -radiopharmaceuticals (-particle emitters). The objective of our research was to determine the experimental emission light spectrum of -CR and evaluate its transmission properties in tissue as well as the feasibility to applying CR imaging in the preclinical studies of -radiopharmaceuticals. The theoretical and experimental characterizations of the emission and transmission spectra of -CR in tissue, in the vis-NIR region (350 to 900 nm), were performed using Monte Carlo simulation and UV-vis spectroscopy. Mice -CR images were acquired using a charge-coupled detector camera and were quantitatively analyzed. The results demonstrated good agreement between the theoretical and the experimental -CR emission spectra. Preclinical CR imaging demonstrated that the biokinetics of -radiopharmaceuticals in the main organs of mice can be acquired.
Highlights
Cerenkov radiation (CR) is the energy produced in the ultraviolet (UV)-visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, when the charged particles in a medium travel faster than the speed of light in the same medium
From the emission spectrum of 177Lu β particles (Emax 1⁄4 0.497 MeV), the threshold energies required for CR generation in water and tissue were determined using Eq (1):[4] v p EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e001;63;441 c >; n where c is the speed of light in vacuum, n is the refractive index of the medium, and υp is the speed of the emitted β particle, which can be calculated using Eq (2)
It can be observed that the threshold energy necessary for CR generation in water and tissue are 246.06 keV and 219.19 to 242.97 keV, respectively, depending on the tissue refractive index
Summary
Cerenkov radiation (CR) is the energy produced in the ultraviolet (UV)-visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, when the charged particles in a medium travel faster than the speed of light in the same medium. Because of the high particle velocity, the molecules of the medium are polarized and are immediately de-excited by releasing energy in the form of UV and visible radiation. The threshold condition for CR generation is vp > c∕n, where n is the refractive index of the medium, and vp and c are the speed of the particle and the speed of light in vacuum, respectively.[1,2] For β particles traveling in water (n 1⁄4 1.33), the energy threshold for CR generation is 261 keV, and it changes in muscle tissue (n 1⁄4 1.4) to 219 keV.[3]. The CR intensity is determined by the radionuclide radioactive decay
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