Production, quality control and initial imaging studies of [ 82mRb]RbCl for PET studies

Abstract

Rubidium-82m was prepared via 15.4 MeV proton irradiation of a krypton-82 gaseous target (30% enrichment). Washing the target chamber with hot water yielded a Rb-82m containing solution, which was further purified using short column chromatography in order to remove organic/inorganic impurities. The flowthrough was formulated in normal saline for injection. Radionuclide, radiochemical and chemical purity tests were performed prior to administration to rats for imaging (radiochemical yield: 95-97%, radiochemical purity > 97%). Preliminary dual-head coincidence studies were performed to determine the distribution of [82mRb]Rb in normal rats. For biodistribution studies, Rb-81 was injected to rats and tracer accumulation in heart, GI and bladder was determined after sacrification in time intervals. A yield of 1.3 GBq at EOB, 235.7 MBq/μAh was obtained.