The specific uptake of 99mTc radiolabeled Staphylococcus aureus aptamers in the infectious foci was evaluated by scintigraphic imaging of infection-bearing mice. The radiotracer uptake was inhibited by non-radiolabeled aptamers in a competition assay. In addition, when a different number of bacterial cells was used to infect mice an increase in the target/non-target ratios of images correlated with the increase of CFU per gram of tissue was verified. These results confirmed that 99mTc-aptamers were specific to bacterial focus and the level of uptake was dependent on the number of bacterial cells.
Keywords: Aptamer; Bacterial infection; Diagnosis; Radiopharmaceutical; Technetium-99m.
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