title: Synthesis, radiolabeling and biological evaluation of a neutral tripeptide and its derivatives for potential nuclear medicine applications.
abstract: Peptides are important regulators of growth and cellular functions not only in normal tissue but also in tumors. So they are becoming radioligands of increasing interest in nuclear oncology for targeted tumor diagnosis and therapy. So development of new peptide radiopharmaceuticals is becoming one of the most important areas in nuclear medicine research. A small tripeptide derivative NH(2)PhePheCys was synthesized by Fmoc solid phase peptide synthesis using an automated synthesizer. The oxidized form, i.e. NH(2)PhePheCysCysPhePheNH(2,) was also prepared by iodine oxidation method from NH(2)PhePheCys(ACM). The ligands were analyzed by HPLC and mass spectroscopy. They were radiolabeled with (99m)Tc using SnCl(2). In vitro analytical studies and biological characterizations were performed using the peptide radiopharmaceuticals. Images taken under gamma camera showed very high uptake in the liver, lung and spleen. Significant uptake was also observed in bone marrow and brain for (99m)Tc-NH(2)PhePheCys. Metabolites were produced in vivo when the radiopharmaceuticals were injected intravenously and were identified from rat brain and liver homogenate studies. Clearance through kidney did not show any evidence of breaking of the labeled compounds and formation of free (99m)Tc. Radiopharmaceuticals prepared using tripeptide and hexapeptide ligands were transported into the brain through blood brain barrier depending on the size and sequence characteristics. Using this property of peptide new derivatives can be prepared to develop (99m)Tc radiopharmaceuticals for imaging normal brain tissues as well as for diagnosing various brain disorders.
authors.affiliation: Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4 Raja SC Mullick Road, Kolkata-32, West Bengal 700032, India. susmita2506@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Susmita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chandra
authors.forename: Kakali
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: De
authors.forename: Santanu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ganguly
authors.forename: Bharat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.forename: Mridula
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Misra
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001345:Autoradiography; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D009683:Nuclear Medicine / Q000379:methods; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds