The Interpretation of Autoradiograms, Especially when Using Tritium as a Tracer

The possibilities and principal limitations of the autoradiographic method and, hence, the interpretation of autoradiograms especially when using tritium as a tracer are discussed. A number of problems are described which require an increasingly complex evaluation of autoradiographic data. Moreover, the response of photographic emulsions to beta particles from C‐14 and tritium, respectively, is compared and it is shown that, with extremely soft radiation, proportionality between the degree of labelling of the source and the autoradiographic effect is limited to a narrow interval.