<p>The positron emitting radionuclide <sup>68</sup>Ga (T<sub>1/2</sub> = 68 min) might become of practical interest for clinical positron emission tomography (PET). The metallic cation, <sup>68</sup>Ga(III), is suitable for complexation with chelators, either naked or conjugated with biological macromolecules. Such labelling procedures require pure and concentrated preparations of <sup>68</sup>Ga(III), which cannot be sufficiently fulfilled by the presently available <sup>68</sup>Ge/<sup>68</sup>Ga generator eluate. This thesis presents methods to increase the concentration and purity of <sup>68</sup>Ga obtained from a commercial <sup>68</sup>Ge/<sup>68</sup>Ga generator. The use of the preconcentrated and purified <sup>68</sup>Ga eluate along with microwave heating allowed quantitative <sup>68</sup>Ga-labelling of peptide conjugates within 15 min. The specific radioactivity of the radiolabelled peptides was improved considerably compared to previously applied techniques using non-treated generator eluate and conventional heating. A commercial <sup>68</sup>Ge/<sup>68</sup>Ga generator in combination with the method for preconcentration/purification and microwave heated labelling might result in an automated device for <sup>68</sup>Ga-based radiopharmaceutical kit production with quantitative incorporation of <sup>68</sup>Ga(III).</p><p>Macromolecules were labelled with <sup>68</sup>Ga(III) either directly or via a chelator. The bifunctional chelator, DOTA, was conjugated in solution to peptides, an antibody and oligonucleotides. The peptides had varied pI values, constitution, and length ranging from 8 to 53 amino acid residues. The oligonucleotides were of various sequences and length with modifications in backbone, sugar moiety and both 3' and 5' ends with a molecular weight up to 9.8 kDa. The bioconjugates were labeled with <sup>68</sup>Ga(III), and the resulting tracers were characterised chemically and biologically. The identity of the <sup>68</sup>Ga-labelled bioconjugates was verified. The tracers were found to be stable and their biological activity maintained. Specific radioactivity was shown to be an important parameter influencing the feasibility of accurate imaging data quantification.</p><p>Furthermore, <sup>68</sup>Ga-labelled peptide imaging was shown to be a useful tool to study peptide adsorption to microstructures in a chemical analysis device.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:uu-5876 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Velikyan, Irina |
| Publisher | Uppsala University, Department of Chemistry, Uppsala : Kemiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary, text |
| Relation | Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology, 1651-6214 ; 73 |
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