Preparation of Crotalus Venom Radiolabeled with Technetium as a Tool for Biodistribution Study

Technetium-99m (Tc) has been the radionuclide of choice for nuclear medicine procedures and experimental research. Because of its optimal nuclear properties, Tc is suitable for high efficiency detection with the advantage of reduced radiological waste. Crotalus venom (CV) has been shown to reduce tumors in clinical studies and tissue distribution studies are very important for clinical use. The goal of this work was to obtain CV labeled with Tc which preserves its biological activity. After labeling, biological activity was assessed by hemolytic activity evaluation. Labeled and crude venom caused indirect hemolysis provided that the incubation medium contained an exogenous source of lecithin. High yield radiolabeled-CV was obtained and biological activity was preserved. The results suggest that Tc-CV can be a useful tool for biodistribution studies.