autoradiography

1 9.9

A method that makes a picture of a sample using its own radiation

noun
/ˌɔːtəˌreɪdiˈɒɡrəfi/

Specialized

: autoradiografía

Examples

Electron-microscope autoradiography demonstrates glutamate uptake sites in the lateral and inferior vestibular nuclei of cats.

Academic text (2005)
Other histological techniques include enzyme histochemistry, immunocytochemistry, and autoradiography, in conjunction with light and electron microscopy (box 1).

Academic text (2004)
In autoradiography, the image is created by radiation emitted from the specimen directly onto the film.
Researchers used autoradiography to visualize the distribution of the radioactive material within the tissue sample.
The technique of autoradiography allows scientists to track the movement of substances within living organisms.

Surface Forms

autoradiography singular

autoradiographies plural

Morphology

autoradiography = radiography (semi-transparent) = auto + radio + graph + y

Adding auto- to radiography is a regular and interpretable formation, but the resulting technical meaning is not fully predictable for an average learner.

Etymology

Autoradiography comes from three familiar parts: auto- 'self', as in autograph; radio- 'radiation', as in radio; and -graphy 'writing' or 'picture', as in photography. So, autoradiography really means 'making a picture from the specimen's own radiation', which is why the technique makes an image from the sample itself.