Preparation and Quality Control of 68Ga-Citrate for PET Applications

OBJECTIVES In nuclear medicine studies, gallium-68 ((8)Ga) citrate has been recently known as a suitable infection agent in positron emission tomography (PET). In this study, by applying an in-house produced (68)Ge/(68)Ga generator, a simple technique for the synthesis and quality control of (68)Ga-citrate was introduced; followed by preliminary animal studies. METHODS (68)GaCl3 eluted from the generator was studied in terms of quality control factors including radiochemical purity (assessed by HPLC and RTLC), chemical purity (assessed by ICP-EOS), radionuclide purity (evaluated by HPGe), and breakthrough. (68)Ga-citrate was prepared from eluted (68)GaCl3 and sodium citrate under various reaction conditions. Stability of the complex was evaluated in human serum for 2 h at 370C, followed by biodistribution studies in rats for 120 min. RESULTS (68)Ga-citrate was prepared with acceptable radiochemical purity (>97 ITLC and >98% HPLC), specific activity (4-6 GBq/mM), chemical purity (Sn, Fe<0.3 ppm and Zn<0.2 ppm) within 15 min at 500C. The biodistribution of (68)Ga-citrate was consistent with former reports up to 120 minutes. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated the possible in-house preparation and quality control of (68)Ga-citrate, using a commercially available (68)Ge/(68)Ga generator for PET imaging throughout the country.