Production and quality control 177Lu (NCA)—DOTMP as a potential agent for bone pain palliation

摘要

Skeletal uptake of radiolabeled‐1, 4, 7, 10‐tetraazacyclododecane‐1, 4, 7, 10‐tetramethylene phosphoric acid (e.g., ¹⁷⁷Lu‐DOTMP) complex, is used for bone pain palliation. The moderate energy of β‐emitting ¹⁷⁷Lu (T1/2 = 6.7 d, Eβmax = 497 keV) has been considered as a potential radionuclide for development of the bone‐seeking radiopharmaceutical. Since the specific activity of the radiolabeled carrier molecules should be high, the “no‐carrier‐added radionuclides” have significant roles in nuclear medicine. Many researchers illustrated no‐carrier‐added ¹⁷⁷Lu production; among these separation techniques such as ion exchange chromatography, reversed phase ion‐pair, and electrochemical method, extraction chromatography has been considered more capable than other methods. In order to optimize the conditions, some effective factors on separation of Lu/Yb were investigated by EXC. The NCA ¹⁷⁷Lu, produced by this method, was mixed with 300μ1 of DOTMP solution (20 mg in 1 mL of 0.5 M NaHCO3, pH = 8) and incubated under stirring at room temperature for 45 min. Radiochemical purity of the ¹⁷⁷Lu‐DOTMP complex was determined using radio‐thin‐layer chromatography (RTLC) method. The complex was injected to wild‐type rats and biodistribution was then studied for seven days. The NCA ¹⁷⁷Lu was produced with specific activity of 48 Ci/mg and with a radinuclidic purity of 99.99% through irradiation of enriched ¹⁷⁶Yb target (1 mg) in a thermal neutron flux of 4 × 10¹³ n.cm⁻².s⁻¹ for 14 days. ¹⁷⁷Lu‐DOTMP was obtained with high radiochemical purities (  98%) under optimized reaction conditions. The radiolabeled complex exhibited excellent stability at room temperature. Biodistribution of the radiolabeled complex studies in rats showed favorable selective skeletal uptake with rapid clearance from blood along with insignificant accumulation within the other nontargeted organs.PACS number(s): 87.57.un, 87.57.uq