Preparation and optimization of SBA-16-Al nanomaterials labeled Technetium-99m for radiation imaging applications

Abstract

In today’s of the conventional cancer diagnosis, there are still many problems encountered, such as the ineffectiveness of drug loading, instability, and biocompatibility issues. One alternative method for early detection of cancer is using nuclear techniques using radioactive compounds such as Technetium-99m. In the present research work, a silica mesoporous nanomaterial SBA-16-Al will be introduced as a carrier of imaging agent of radioactive compounds that play a role in radiation imaging. The Al-SBA-16 nanomaterials labeled with 99mTc (99mTc-SBA-16-Al) radioisotope exhibited very interesting nuclear properties for applications in imaging radionuclide diagnoses. Preparation by treatment of milling for 30 hours and ultrasonication bath for 60 minutes produced particle sizes of 510-3900 nm with a median of 1587 nm. Based on the results of this study, the optimum radiochemical purity was obtained at 85.66 ± 0.72% with pH 9 of solutions, the ratio of the amount of SnCl2 and SBA-16-Al to 75 μg compared to 1000 μg (1: 13.3), and incubation time during 20 minutes, with the radioactivity of technetium-99m ranging from 0.21 to 1.23 mCi. The results of the electrophoresis test showed that 99mTc-SBA-16-Al is a neutrally charged compound.