Introduction
99mTc-Teboroxime ([99mTcCl(CDO)(CDOH)2BMe]) is a member of the BATO (boronic acid adducts of technetium dioximes) class of 99mTc(III) complexes. This study sought to explore the impact of co-ligands on solution stability, heart uptake and myocardial retention of [99mTc(L)(CDO)(CDOH)2BMe] (99mTc-Teboroxime: L = Cl; 99mTc-Teboroxime(F): L = F; 99mTc-Teboroxime(SCN): L = SCN; and 99mTc-Teboroxime(N3): L = N3).
Methods
Radiotracers 99mTc-Teboroxime(L) (L = F, SCN and N3) were prepared by reacting 99mTc-Teboroxime with NaF, NaSCN and NaN3, respectively. Biodistribution and imaging studies were carried out in Sprague-Dawley rats. Image quantification was performed to compare their heart retention and liver clearance kinetics.
Results
Complexes 99mTc-Teboroxime(L) (L = F, SCN and N3) were prepared in high yield with high radiochemical purity. All new radiotracers were stable for >6 h in the kit matrix. In its HPLC chromatogram, 99mTc-Teboroxime showed one peak at ~15.5 min, which was shorter than that of 99mTc-Teboroxime(F) (~16.4 min). There were two peaks for 99mTc-Teboroxime(SCN) at 16.5 and 18.3 min. 99mTc-Teboroxime(N3) appeared as a single peak at 18.4 min. Their heart retention and liver clearance curves were best fitted to the bi-exponential decay function. The half-times of fast/slow components were 1.6 ± 0.4/60.7±8.9 min for 99mTc-Teboroxime, 0.8±0.2/101.7±20.7 min for 99mTc-Teboroxime(F), 1.2±0.3/84.8±16.6 min for 99mTc-Teboroxime(SCN), and 2.9±0.9/51.6±5.0 min for 99mTc-Teboroxime(N3). The 2-min heart uptake followed the order of 99mTc-Teboroxime (3.00±0.37%ID/g) > 99mTc-Teboroxime(N3) (2.66±0.01 %ID/g) ≈ 99mTc-Sestamibi (2.55±0.46 %ID/g) > 99mTcN-MPO (2.38±0.15 %ID/g). 99mTc-Teboroxime remains the best in first-pass extraction. The best image acquisition window is 0 – 5 min for 99mTc-Teboroximine and 0 – 15 min for 99mTc-Teboroximine(N3).
Conclusion
Co-ligands had significant impact on the heart uptake and myocardial retention of complexes [99mTc(L)(CDO)(CDOH)2BMe] (L = Cl, F, SCN and N3). Future studies should be directed towards minimizing the liver uptake and radioactivity accumulation in the blood vessels while maintaining their high heart uptake.