Regional brain uptake and retention of Tc-99m-propylene amine oxime derivatives

Tc-99m-propylene amine oxime (Tc-99m-PnAO) is a neutral lipophilic chelate that rapidly and passively enters the cerebral cortex (80% on first pass in baboon brain) and then clears exponentially leaving inadequate activity to perform conventional SPECT brain imaging. When side chains are attached to the PnAO backbone lipophilicity is increased, as well as brain retention. In this work the authors evaluated regional brain uptake and retention of Tc-99m-PnAO and several of its derivatives in rat brain using serial autoradiography (ARG). Autoradiographs of each Tc-99m chelate at 5 sec. post peak brain uptake demonstrate discrete grey to white matter differentiation. White matter tracts are well delineated and the darker areas of grey matter appearing in the midbrain and thalamus, corresponding to areas of high capillary density and high blood flow documented with C-14-iodoantipyrine, are easily distinguished. Within 5 min. of the peak uptake the regional uptake and grey/white differentiation is lost on the Tc-99m-PnAO ARG. In contrast the 5 min. ARG of the more lipophilic Tc-99m, chelate with dimethyl-PnAO (DMPnAO) shows the complete reverse of the 5 sec. ARG, with greater activity in the white matter tracts than in the grey matter. One of the derivatives, tetramethyl-PAO (TMPAO) complexed with Tc-99m is retained in the grey matter of rat brain and shows persistent grey to white localization for at least 60 min., analogous to what has been reported with I-123-IMP. These results suggest that Tc-99m-TMPAO or one of its derivatives may be appropriate for SPECT imaging of cerebral blood flow abnormalities