文摘
Clarithromycin antibiotic was labeled with technetium-99m by adding 99m Tc to clarithromycin in the presence of SnCl2·2H2O. The radiochemical yield of 99m Tc-clarithromycin was determined by chromatographic methods. Gel chromatographic method was investigated for separation of the reaction mixture using different eluents including NaCl and phosphate, citrate, and carbonate buffer solutions. Also, free 99m TcO 4 - and 99m Tc-clarithromycin were efficiently separated by reversed-phase HPLC on RP18 column. The maximum radiochemical yield reached 98 ± 0.2%. 99m Tc-clarithromycin is stable for 6 h. Biological distribution of 99m Tc-clarithromycin was studied for mice with the infection in the left thigh induced using Staphylococcus aureus. The target-to-nontarget (T/NT) ratio for 99m Tc-clarithromycin was found to be 7.33 ± 0.13 at 2 h after intravenous injection, with the subsequent gradual decline. This value is higher than that of commercially available 99m Tc-ciprofloxacin. The abscess to normal muscle ratio shows that 99m Tc-clarithromycin can be successfully used for infection imaging, allowing differentiation between bacterial infection and sterile inflammation.