Comparative evaluation of glutamate-sensitive radiopharmaceuticals: Technetium-99m-glutamic acid and technetium-99m-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid-bis(glutamate) conjugate for tumor imaging.

Single-photon emission computed tomography has become a significant imaging modality with huge potential to visualize and provide information of anatomic dysfunctions that are predictive of future diseases. This imaging tool is complimented by radiopharmaceuticals/radiosubstrates that help in imaging specific physiological aspects of the human body. The present study was undertaken to explore the utility of technetium-99m (⁹⁹(m)Tc)-labeled glutamate conjugates for tumor scintigraphy. As part of our efforts to further utilize the application of chelating agents, glutamic acid was conjugated with a multidentate ligand, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA). The DTPA-glutamate conjugate [DTPA-bis(Glu)] was well characterized by IR, NMR, and mass spectroscopy. The biological activity of glutamic acid was compared with its DTPA conjugate by radiocomplexation with ⁹⁹(m)Tc (labeling efficiency ≥98%). In vivo studies of both the radiolabeled complexes ⁹⁹(m)Tc-Glu and ⁹⁹(m)Tc-DTPA-bis(Glu) were then carried out, followed by gamma scintigraphy in New Zealand albino rabbits. Improved serum stability of ⁹⁹(m)Tc-labeled DTPA conjugate indicated that ⁹⁹(m)Tc remained bound to the conjugate up to 24 hours. Blood clearance showed a relatively slow washout of the DTPA conjugate when compared with the labeled glutamate. Biodistribution characteristics of the conjugate in Balb/c mice revealed that DTPA conjugation of glutamic acid favors less accumulation in the liver and bone and rapid renal clearance. Tumor scintigraphy in mice showed increasing tumor accumulation, stable up to 4 hours. These preliminary studies show that ⁹⁹(m)Tc-DTPA-bis(Glu) can be a useful radiopharmaceutical for diagnostic applications in single-photon emission computed tomography imaging.