Complexes of technetium-99m with tetrapeptides containing one alanyl and three glycyl moieties

Recently, we have shown that tetrapeptides can be efficiently labelled with technetium-99m by direct labelling at alkaline pH. Tetrapeptides can be considered derivatives of mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) in which the mercaptoacetyl moiety is replaced by an amino acid residue. In view of the interesting biological properties of some C-methyl substituted derivatives of 99mTc-MAG3, we have now synthesised and evaluated the complexes of 99mTc with tetrapeptides containing three glycyl (G) moieties and one D- or L-alanyl (A) moiety. In mice, 99mTc-L-GAGG, 99mTc-D-GGAG and 99mTc-L-GGAG showed a rapid and high renal excretion, comparable to that of 99mTc-MAG3. Renal handling was somewhat reduced for isomers d and l of 99mTc-AGGG and 99mTc-D-GAGG and markedly inferior for 99mTc-L-GGGA and 99mTc-D-GGGA. In the baboon, 99mTc-L-AGGG, 99mTc-D-AGGG and 99mTc-L-GAGG showed a comparable or even higher 1-h plasma clearance than 99mTc-MAG3. 99mTc-D-GAGG, 99mTc-L-GGAG and 99mTc-D-GGAG were characterised by a lower plasma clearance and the clearance of 99mTc-L-GGGA and 99mTc-D-GGGA was remarkably low. The three 99mTc-labelled tetrapeptides with the highest plasma clearance in a baboon were compared with 99mTc-MAG3 in a human volunteer. 99mTc-L-AGGG and 99mTc-L-GAGG had a roughly similar plasma clearance as 99mTc-MAG3. The clearance of 99mTc-D-AGGG was significantly lower and liver uptake was clearly visible with this compound. Left kidney renograms of 99mTc-L-AGGG and 99mTc-D-AGGG indicated moderate kidney accumulation. On the other hand, the renogram obtained after injection of 99mTc-L-GAGG had an excellent shape and the maximum kidney concentration was slightly higher than for 99mTc-MAG3. These results show the importance of the position of the methyl substituent on the 99mTc-tetrapeptide with respect to its biological behaviour.