Inflammation scintigraphy imaging through a novel antimicrobial peptide labeled with technetium-99m in an animal...

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), due to their biological properties, have great potential for radiopharmaceutical development. In this research, a new antimicrobial peptide, derived from a 21-residue antimicrobial peptide microcinJ25 (MccJ25), was utilized to diagnose inflamed sites in mice bodies after labeling with [^99mTc]Tc.

An antimicrobial peptide derivative was connected with an efficient chelator, hydrazinonicotinamide, and then labeled with [^99mTc]Tc. The binding of labeled microcinJ25 conjugate to lymphocyte was investigated in vitro. Turpentine oil-induced inflammation uptake and tissue distribution were assessed through the animal pattern. Detector scanning was done through scintigraphy post injection of [^99mTc]Tc-radiopeptide within different time points.

High radiochemical purity (>98%) was obtained for [^99mTc]Tc-radiopeptide. Lymphocyte binding assessment showed specific cell binding. Binding Inhibition was observed when additional unlabeled conjugate was used. In in vivo biological distribution studies, the uptake for inflamed tissue was 1.52 ± 0.12%ID/g. The inflammation site was visualized by scintigraphy imaging at 1 up to 2 hours.

Based on our results this new designed [^99mTc]Tc-radiopeptide was able to detect inflammation sites early and with high resolution, and could be considered a promising diagnostic candidate in inflammatory diseases.