Magnesium
is an essential element. An adult body contains approximately 21-28 grams of
magnesium, with 50-60% present in the bones. Too high or too low levels of
magnesium intake can have harmful effects on human body. To study how magnesium
intake and storage in the body affect human health, it is important to identify
a credible biomarker for the intake and storage. Usually, the amount of
magnesium in the body is determined by a blood draw, but blood contains less
than 1 percent of the total amount of magnesium in the body. In addition, the
concentration of magnesium in blood is not stable. Bone holds the majority of
magnesium in the body; therefore, bone is expected to be an ideal biomarker for
measuring any surplus or deficiencies in the body. This thesis investigates the
feasibility of quantifying magnesium in hand bone in vivo using MCNP simulation models and experiments with magnesium
doped phantoms. The fast neutrons, generated by a deuterium-deuterium neutron
generator with a flux of 1e9 neutrons/second, were moderated and guided to
produce maximum number of thermal neutrons in an irradiation cave with
acceptable radiation dose to the hand. The dimensions of the neutron generator
along with the current shielding techniques were simulated in MCNP. The data
show that the differences between the experimental and simulated calibration
lines resulted in a percent difference of 9.40%. The experimental detection
limit for bone magnesium was found to be 334 µg magnesium/g dry bone with a
total body dose of 11 µSv.