PREPARATION OF HIGH SPECIFIC ACTIVITY RADIOTRACERS FOR RADIOANALYTICAL STUDIES

High specific activity radiotracers are very suitable for studies related to the toxicological impact of trace elements onto human health. In order to investigate the metabolic behaviour of Low Level Exposure (LLE) to trace elements, it is necessary to carry out in-vitro and in-vivo experiments with tracers whose concentration is of the same order of magnitude as the present environmental exposure values (ng-mu-g/kg day). Preparations, separations and purifications of some No Carrier Added (NCA) radiotracers (V-48, Tc-95m Tc-96, Hg-195m,g, Hg-197m,g, Au-199, Tl-202) produced by either cyclotron or nuclear reactor irradiation, are presented and discussed. This work reviews the more recent advances in this field carried out by our groups.