[Chemical and pharmacological aspects of cerebral cellular tracers]

Among the iodophenylalkylamines studied and labelled with iodine 125 or iodine 123, N-isopropyl-iodo-amphetamin (IAMP) was selected and proposed as tracer for blood flow, a "chemical embolus" having almost 100% extraction in the brain. A new way of obtaining N-isopropyl-p-iodo-amphetamin is proposed and the easily-applied exchange reaction with iodine 125 or 123 gives a product with a radiochemical purity of more than 96% and an unexchanged radioactive iodine content of less than 1%. The pharmacokinetic study of this product in the Wistar rat showed distribution in three compartments and the appearance of a steady state by the fourth minute. The target organs are the lungs, liver and brain. The latter receives 3% of the radioactivity and the autoradiographic study shows that the early distribution in the brain for IAMP closely equals the blood flow as found by a diffusible indicator. In the first hour, the redistribution is very low and at this time although IAMP is proposed for the study of regional blood flow, it does not exactly determine the flow but rather mirrors cell activity.