School of Health Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, 47906, USA.
School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of South China, Hengyang, China.
Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 18;11(1):6385. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85233-2.
Potassium is known for its effect on modifiable chronic diseases like hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes (type-2), and bone health. In this study, a new method, neutron generator based neutron activation analysis (NAA), was utilized to measure potassium (K) in mouse carcasses. A DD110 neutron generator based NAA assembly was used for irradiation.Thirty-two postmortem mice (n= 16 males and 16 females, average weight [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] g) were employed for this study. Soft-tissue equivalent mouse phantoms were prepared for the calibration. All mice were irradiated for 10 minutes, and the gamma spectrum with 42K was collected using a high efficiency, high purity germanium (HPGe) detector. A lead shielding assembly was designed and developed around the HPGe detector to obtain an improved detection limit. Each mouse sample was irradiated and measured twice to reduce uncertainty. The average potassium concentration was found to be significantly higher in males [Formula: see text] compared to females [Formula: see text]. We also observed a significant correlation between potassium concentration and the weight of the mice. The detection limit for potassium quantification with the NAA system was 46 ppm. The radiation dose to the mouse was approximately 56 [Formula: see text] mSv for 10-min irradiation. In conclusion, this method is suitable for estimating individual potassium concentration in small animals. The direct evaluation of total body potassium in small animals provides a new way to estimate potassium uptake in animal models. This method can be adapted later to quantify potassium in the human hand and small animals in vivo. When used in vivo, it is also expected to be a valuable tool for longitudinal assessment, kinetics, and health outcomes.
钾已知对高血压、心脏病、糖尿病（2 型）和骨骼健康等可改变的慢性病有影响。在这项研究中，利用了一种新方法——基于中子发生器的中子激活分析（NAA）——来测量小鼠尸体中的钾（K）。使用基于 DD110 中子发生器的 NAA 组件进行辐照。该研究使用了 32 只死后的小鼠（n=16 只雄性和 16 只雌性，平均体重[公式：见正文]和[公式：见正文]g）。为了校准，制备了软组织等效的小鼠体模。所有小鼠均辐照 10 分钟，并使用高效高纯锗（HPGe）探测器收集 42K 的伽马能谱。设计并开发了一个铅屏蔽组件，以获得更高的检测极限。每个小鼠样本都进行了两次辐照和测量，以减少不确定性。结果发现，雄性的钾浓度平均值[公式：见正文]明显高于雌性[公式：见正文]。我们还观察到钾浓度与小鼠体重之间存在显著相关性。使用 NAA 系统进行钾定量的检测极限为 46ppm。小鼠的辐照剂量约为 56[公式：见正文]mSv，辐照时间为 10 分钟。总之，该方法适用于估计小动物个体的钾浓度。直接评估小动物的全身钾可提供一种新的方法来估计动物模型中的钾摄取量。这种方法以后可以适用于在体内定量分析人手和小动物的钾。在体内使用时，它也有望成为纵向评估、动力学和健康结果的有价值工具。
