Receptor-specific radiopharmaceuticals

An outline is presented of the state of the art approach to the design of receptor binding radiotracers, including the use of mathematical models to choose potential receptor-specific radiopharmaceuticals, followed by a review of the currently available receptor specific radiopharmaceuticals. Particular mention is made of the use of 3H compounds to identify receptors in preliminary testing, the preparation of compounds which have the necessary binding properties to be useful in in vivo probes for oestrogen receptors, the use of quinuclidinyl [125I]-iodobenzilate in studies of the heart, brain and pancreas of the rat, and the use of bromoperidol labelled with 77Br for brain studies in the monkey. (U.K.)