A preliminary study of new imaging agents on inflammatory lesions

Feasibility of imaging inflammatory lesions with five small molecular weight complexes of 99mTc was investigated. The labeling yields of D-glucaric acid (D-Gca), citric acid (Cit), DL-malic acid (DL-Mal), L-malic acid (L-Mal) and tartaric acid (Tar) were all more than 90%. The percentage uptake/g tissue of them and 99mTc-pertechnetate (P) in mice with turpentine-induced abscesses and abscess/muscle (A/M), blood (A/B), liver (A/L), kidney (A/K) concentration ratios were calculated. The maximum A/M ratios were 4.02±0.21 (Cit, 3h), 4.30±0.77 (D-Gca, 3h), 4.04±0.21 (DL-Mal, 6h), 3.50±0.23 (L-Mal, 1h), 3.20±0.17 (Tar, 1h) and 3.23±0.41 (P, 1h) respectively. The scintigram was obtained in a rabbit with turpentine-induced abscess after 99mTc-D-Gca i.v. injection. Results demonstrated they all can accumulate in inflammatory lesions. Of them, 99mTc-D-Gca is probably a potential imaging agent on inflammatory lesions. (author)