This article reviews the labelling of peptides that are recognised to be of interest for nuclear medicine or are the subject of ongoing nuclear medicine research. Applications and approaches to the labelling of peptide radiopharmaceuticals are discussed, and drawbacks in their development considered.
Recognizing the fact that each nuclear medicine facility should be able to perform simple radiochemical quality tests on currently used radiopharmaceuticals, this study was undertaken to evaluate a number of radiochromatographic methods. No single ideal method exists to assess the radiochemical composition of 99mTc-labeled antimony sulphur colloid, sulphur colloid, iron ascorbate, citrate, human serum albumin, EHDP, macroaggregates, and microspheres. It is advisable to include thin layer chromatography with both NaCl and methylethylethylketone for the determination of free pertechnetate in each day's program. More detailed radiochemical analysis can be performed by combining these methods with paper chromatography, paper electrophoresis, and gel filtration. It seems reasonable to regard a constant radiochromatographic pattern as a measure for constant radiochemical quality. The four chromatographic tests lead to consistent results regarding the percentage of free pertechnetate in the radiopharmaceutical preparations. Quantitative analysis shows that the radiochemical purity for each radiopharmaceutical is unique for the chromatographic method used and needs to be defined when stated.
Previous reports on the use of radiolabelled immunoglobulins led us to undertake a pilot experiment in an animal model to investigate the potentials of Tc 99m-immunoglobulin scintigraphy in the detection of infectious foci. Mice infected in one leg with staphylococcus infection were injected with Tc 99m-immunoglobulin, Tc 99m-albumin or gallium citrate Ga 67. The results obtained by scintigraphy suggested a specific accumulation of radiolabelled immunoglobulin at the site of infection. Visualization of the infection and the image quality, especially the 6- and 24-h images, were clearly enhanced after the use of immunoglobulin preparations as compared with gallium.
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