Background: Nanomedicine offers great potential for scintigraphic diagnostic imaging with lower risk and higher quality compared to other traditional techniques.
Objectives: This work aimed to develop and evaluate gold nanoparticles combined with gallic acid (gallic-AuNPs) and [131I]iodocolchicine as a scintigraphic probe for inflammation.
Methods: [131I]iodocolchicine-gallic-AuNPs were synthesized via chemical reduction method where gallic acid was used as reducing agent and [131I]iodocolchicine was used as stabilizing agent. Then a characteristic profile for the synthesized nano-platform was performed including size analysis, zeta potential, radiochemical yield and in-vivo biodistribution in inflammation bearing mice.
Results and conclusion: This platform was successfully synthesized with good stability, appropriate particle size (10 nm diameter for AuNPs), and high radiochemical purity for [131I]iodocolchicine (96.79%). The in-vivo study indicated that [131I]iodocolchicine-gallic-AuNPs accumulated with a high target to non-target ratio in intravenous injection and high retention value in intra-inflammation injection in inflammation model. The obtained data supported the usefulness of the new platform ([131I]iodocolchicine-gallic-AuNPs) as a tracer for the detection and localization of inflammation.
Keywords: 131I-radiolabeling; Gallic-AuNPs; colchicine; inflammation; scintigraphy.