Radioisotopes in the training of medical students

The importance of the discovery of radioisotopes for the progress of science in general and that of biochemistry and physiology in particular has led us to provide experimental practice which enables medical students to become effectively acquainted with the properties and methods of use of radioisotopes, the measurement of their activity, and the possible risks involved in handling them. We have included in the exercises in quantitative determination for third-year medical students (the last pre-clinical year), practice in calibrating micropipettes using a ²⁴Na solution prepared in the TRICO Centre's reactor by irradiating sodium carbonate with slow neutrons. The students make several GM-counter measurements of the activity of the stock solution over a period of time and of the activity of five samples taken with two different micropipettes. They then calculate, by measuring the decay in activity, the half-life of the isotope and relate their measurements to a reference time. In this way they calculate the volume of their micropipettes and the accuracy of the measurements. By means of a statistical analysis they compare the averages for the two pipettes and the accuracy of two operators. (author)