Simultaneous SPECT imaging with 123I and 125I - a practical approach to assessing a drug and its carrier at the same time with dual imaging

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Zeynab Nosrati
  • Pedro L. Esquinas
  • Cristina Rodríguez-Rodríguez
  • Thuy Tran
  • Anil Maharaj
  • Katayoon Saatchi
  • Urs O. Häfeli

Radiolabeling of a drug with radioactive iodine is a good method to determine its pharmacokinetics and biodistribution in vivo that only minimally alters its physicochemical properties. With dual labeling, using the two radioactive iodine isotopes 123I and 125I, two different drugs can be evaluated at the same time, or one can follow both a drug and its drug delivery system using a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imager. One difficulty is that the two radioisotopes have overlapping gamma spectra. Our aim was therefore to develop a technique that overcomes this problem and allows for quantitative analysis of the two radioisotopes present at varied isotope ratios. For this purpose, we developed a simple method that included scatter and attenuation corrections and fully compensated for 123I/125I crosstalk, and then tested it in phantom measurements. The method was applied to the study of an orally administered lipid formulation for the delivery of fenofibrate in rats. To directly compare a traditional study, where fenofibrate was determined in plasma samples to SPECT imaging with 123I-labeled fenofibrate and 125I-labeled triolein over 24 h, the drug concentrations were converted to standardized uptake values (SUVs), an unusual unit for pharmaceutical scientists, but the standard unit for radiologists. A generally good agreement between the traditional and the radioactive imaging method was found in the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution results. Small differences are discussed in detail. Overall, SPECT imaging is an excellent method to pilot a new formulation with just a few animals, replaces blood sampling, and can very quickly highlight potential administration problems, the excretion pathways and the kinetics. Furthermore, dual labeling with the two radioisotopes 123I and 125I clearly shows if a drug and its drug delivery system stay together when traveling through the body, if slow drug release takes place, and where degradation/excretion of the components occurs.

Original languageEnglish
Article number120884
JournalInternational Journal of Pharmaceutics
Volume606
Number of pages13
ISSN0378-5173
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.

    Research areas

  • Biodistribution, Dual radionuclide imaging, Dual-isotope imaging, In vivo preclinical studies, multi-pinhole SPECT, Pharmacokinetics, SPECT/CT

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