Hi. In this video, I'm going to be talking about radioisotopes. So you may be asking the question, why are we talking about radioisotopes in a cell biology class? But it's because radioisotopes are used by cell biologists to monitor molecules in a variety of different ways. So first, let's refresh what radioactive isotopes are. They are atoms where the nucleus is unstable. That means they can release radiation. There are 3 types of radiation that can be released: alpha, beta, or gamma particles, and they each result in a loss of slightly different things, such as protons, neutrons, electrons, or photons. And this is much more for chemistry, I'm just putting it here so you kind of get the idea in case you run across it in your textbook. But, you know, this is much more chemistry-based than cell biology. However, cell biologists can use different types of techniques to detect isotopes and biological materials. Things like cells, some types of gels that biologists run, or filters that they use to examine proteins, molecules, DNA, or whatever they use. And so, they're super important in cell biology because these radioactive isotopes can be attached to specific molecules. You can do that yourself in a laboratory, or you can actually purchase them from companies that sell materials to laboratories. There are pretty much most small molecules and a lot of proteins you can just buy with this radioactive isotope on it. Scientists use this to determine the quantity of molecules in a cell, determine the location of molecules in a cell, and even follow the movement in real time of a molecule in the cell. You can do it over time or in response to a chemical. So you can see that there's a variety of different uses for these radioisotopes. An example of this is if we have this molecule, it kind of looks like DNA, but you can imagine it being anything. And it has this isotope on it here, these like red stars. And then you can run that on a variety of different materials that scientists use. This one's called a gel, and there are videos on that in case you're wondering what that is. You can see that there are obviously these different bands. Each of them is going to represent something different, either a different size or a different DNA or protein, or molecule. And depending on what the experimental setup is, that could tell you a lot about the quantity of that molecule, the location of that molecule, how that molecule responds to different changes in the cell. So radioactive isotopes or radioisotopes are an extremely important cell biological tool. So with that, let's now move on.
22. Techniques in Cell Biology
The Use of Radioisotopes
22. Techniques in Cell Biology
The Use of Radioisotopes - Online Tutor, Practice Problems & Exam Prep
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concept
Radioisotopes
Video duration:
2mPlay a video:
Video transcript
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Problem
ProblemWhich of the following types of radiation results in the loss of an electron?
A
Emission of alpha particles
B
Emission of beta particles
C
Emission of gamma particles
3
Problem
ProblemWhich of the following characteristics can a radioisotope NOT determine?
A
The quantity of molecules in a cell
B
The location of molecules in the cell
C
The size of a single molecule in the cell
D
The movement of a molecule in the cell