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Monitoring of cardiac antirejection therapy with /sup 111/In lymphocytes

Journal Article · · J. Nucl. Med.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6783605

To determine whether lymphocytes labeled with /sup 111/In permit noninvasive assessment of antirejection therapy, we performed 40 allogeneic heterotopic cardiac transplants in rats. Antirejection therapy with azathioprine (30 mg/kg) and sodium salicylate (200 mg/kg) prolonged contractile function of the graft from 7.5 +/- 1.5 (s.d.) days in controls to 19.4 +/- 3.7 days in treated animals. Six to seven days after transplantation, autologous lymphocytes labeled with /sup 111/In were injected intravenously in seven untreated and eight treated rats. Scintigraphy and organ counting were performed 24 hr after administration of labeled cells. At sacrifice all grafts in untreated rats exhibited contractile failure, whereas grafts in all treated rats were beating well. Transplants in untreated recipients exhibited marked accumulation of /sup 111/In lymphocytes detectable scintigraphically, with ratios of 7.7 +/- 1.9 for the activity in the transplant over that in the native heart (HT/HO), as obtained by well counting. In contrast, accumulation was not scintigraphically detectable in transplants of treated rats, with HT/HO ratios of 2.6 +/- 1.8 (p less than 0.005). The results suggested that imaging with /sup 111/In-labeled lymphocytes will permit noninvasive assessment of antirejection therapy.

Research Organization:
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
OSTI ID:
6783605
Journal Information:
J. Nucl. Med.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Nucl. Med.; (United States) Vol. 23:6; ISSN JNMEA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English