counting 3H bands

[XNRH at PURCCVM.BITNET]

Hi folks:
  I am trying to use a scintilation counter to measure the
amount of tritium labeled product (proteins) in pieces of
polyacrylomide gel. I expose the film and later on I slice
the portion of the gel that contains the band, add water,
incubate for a while, and finaly add enhancer fluid.
  My problem is that the countings I am getting are much lower
than expected. Could this be due to quenching?
  Is there anyone who knows a technique for this procedure? Any
way to destroy the gel slice (acidic or basic digestion). Since
I could do this directly in the scintillation vial, I do not
care about the proteins being also destroyed!

                                  Thanks in advance.

                                           Luiz
                                     XNRH at PURCCVM.BITNET