Abstract
Estrogens may have pro- and anti-inflammatory properties depending on the situation and the involved tissue. 2-Aminoestrone-3-methyl ether as an estrogenic derivative was prepared with a yield of 55 % and well characterized. Tc-99m-2-aminoestrone-3-methyl ether radiotracer was synthesized to study its inflammatory binding specificity as a novel selective radiopharmaceutical for inflammation imaging. In-vivo biodistribution study of Tc-99m-2-amino estrone-3-methyl ether complex in both bacterial infection and sterile inflammation showed high and rapid accumulation of Tc-99m-2-aminoestrone-3-methyl ether complex at the site of sterile inflammation compared to bacterial infection sites (target-to-non target ratio equal to 4.12 +/- A 0.02). This high biological accumulation in inflamed cells suggests that Tc-99m-2-aminoestrone-3-methyl ether complex may be suitable as a potential selective radiotracer able to image inflammatory sites.