Radioiodination and biological evaluation of levalbuterol as a new selective radiotracer. A β₂-adrenoceptor agonist

Levalbuterol was successfully radiolabeled with iodine using chloramine-T as an oxidizing agent via an electrophilic substitution reaction. The reaction parameters that affecting the labeling yield such as levalbuterol concentration, chloramine-T concentration, pH of the reaction medium and reaction time were studied in details. The radiochemical yield was 97.5 ± 0.5% and the radioiodinated compound was separated by HPLC. In vitro studies showed that the iodinated levalbuterol was stable for up to 24 h. The biodistribution in experimental animals showed that the lung uptake was 68.18 ± 0.17% at 5 min post injection which decreased with time until reached to 18.7 ± 0.12% at 2 h which was higher than other recent developed radiopharmaceuticals for lung imaging. The clearance pathways from the mice appear to proceed via both hepatobiliary and renal pathways. Predosing the mice with cold levalbuterol reduced the lung uptake to 20 ± 1.3% and further confirms the high specificity and selectivity of ¹²⁵I-levalbuterol for the lung.