Validation of (99m)Tc-labeled "4+1" fatty acids for myocardial metabolism and flow imaging: Part 2. Subcellular...

Our group has synthesized technetium-labeled fatty acids (FA) that are extracted into the myocardium and sequestered due to heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) binding. In this article, we further address the detailed subcellular distribution and potential myocardial metabolism of [(99m)Tc]"4+1" FA.

Experiments were conducted using isolated hearts of Wistar rats, as well as of wild-type and H-FABP(-/-) mice. Myocardium samples underwent subcellular fractionation [subsarcolemmal mitochondria (SM), intermyofibrillar mitochondria (IM), cytosol with microsomes, and nuclei and crude membranes] and analysis by thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography.

The largest fraction of tissue radioactivity was associated with cytosol [79.69+/-8.88% of infused dose]. About 9.07+/-0.95% and 3.43+/-1.38% of the infused dose were associated with SM and IM fractions, respectively. In the rat heart, etomoxir, an inhibitor of carnitin-palmitoyl transferase I, did not significantly decrease radioactivity associated with mitochondrial fractions, whereas myocardial extraction of [(123)I]-labeled 15-(p-iodophenyl)-pentadecanoic acid (13.26% vs. 49.49% in controls) and the radioactivity associated with the SM and IM fractions were blunted. The percentage of the infused dose in the mitochondrial and crude fractions increased with the number of NH-amide groups of the FA derivative. Absence of H-FABP significantly decreased radioactivity count in the cytosolic fraction (P<.001). No metabolic product of [(99m)Tc]"4+1" FA could be detected in any isolated heart.

Myocardial [(99m)Tc]"4+1" FA extraction reflects binding to H-FABP and membrane structures (including the mitochondrial membrane). However, the compounds do not undergo mitochondrial metabolism because they do not reach the mitochondrial matrix.