Studies on white blood cell labelling: (99)Tc(m)-HMPAO preferentially labels granulocytes

Mixed leucocytes have been labelled in small volumes of plasma using small aliquots of hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (HMPAO) from vials of Ceretec, which were fractionated after reconstitution and stored frozen under nitrogen. Labelling efficiency was found to be independent of HMPAO concentration >8.8 microg.ml-1 and independent of cell concentration at >8x10(7) ml-1. Results are presented from 145 patients referred for white cell scintigraphy. Labelling efficiency was 78.9+/-9.8%. The labelled mixed leucocytes were separated on a 3-step density gradient of Percoll/plasma which showed that (99)Tc(m)-HMPAO gave a granulocyte/lymphocyte specific activity ratio of 1.67; the ratio for (111)In-tropolone or oxine was 1.0, with no preference for granulocytes. It was noted that the labelling efficiency was reduced when there was a high proportion of lymphocytes present, and also that in one patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma the lymphocytes labelled as equally well as the granulocytes. The stability of the label was studied by fractionating the mixed cells after in vitro incubation and after 1 h in vivo; very little loss of label occurred.