• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2022

Stem cell-based therapy is a promising approach for treating a variety of disorders, including acute brain insults and neurodegenerative diseases. Stem cells such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) secrete extracellular vesicles (EVs), circular membrane fragments (30 nm-1 ㎛) that are shed from the cell surface, carrying several therapeutic molecules such as proteins and microRNAs. Because EV-based therapy is superior to cell therapy in terms of scalable production, biodistribution, and safety profiles, it can be used to treat brain diseases as an alternative to stem cell therapy. This review presents evidences evaluating the role of stem cell-derived EVs in stroke, traumatic brain injury, and degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson' disease. In addition, stem cell-derived EVs have better profiles in biocompatibility, immunogenicity, and safety than those of small chemical and macromolecules. The advantages and disadvantages of EVs compared with other strategies are discussed. Even though EVs obtained from native stem cells have potential in the treatment of brain diseases, the successful clinical application is limited by the short half-life, limited targeting, rapid clearance after application, and insufficient payload. We discuss the strategies to enhance the efficacy of EV therapeutics. Finally, EV therapies have yet to be approved by the regulatory authorities. Major issues are discussed together with relevant advances in the clinical application of EV therapeutics.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.155-164
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• 2020

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been the most commonly used polymer for the past few decades in the field of biomedical applications due to its gold standard stealth effect. PEGylation of antibody-drug conjugates, liposomes, peptides, nanoparticles, and proteins is done to improve their pharmaceutical efficacy and pharmacokinetic properties. PEGylation of antibodies with various PEG linkers improves targeting ability by increasing the blood circulation time and thus enhances the biodistribution profiles. It also assists in minimizing the immediate capture by the reticuloendothelial system. In this review, we summarize the effect of PEG linkers in an antibody conjugation and their pharmacokinetics in the field of biomedical imaging.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.263-270
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• 2006

Purpose: Several radioisotope-labeled thymidine derivatives such as $[^{11}C]$thymidine was developed to demonstrate cell proliferation in tumor. But it is difficult to track metabolism with $[^{11}C]$thymidine due to rapid in vivo degradation and its short physical half-life. 3'-$[^{18}F]$fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine ($[^{18}F]$FLT) was reported to have the longer half life of fluorine-18 and the lack of metabolic degradation in vivo. Here, we described the synthesis of the 3'-$[^{18}F]$fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine ($[^{18}F]$FLT) and compared with $([^{18}F]FET)\;and\;([^{18}F]FDG)$ in cultured 9L cell and obtained the biodistribution and PET image in 9L tumor hearing rats. Material and Methods: For the synthesis of $[^{18}F]$FLT, 3-N-tert-butoxycarbonyl-(5'-O-(4,4'-dimet hoxytriphenylmethyl)-2'-deoxy-3'-O-(4-nitrobenzenesulfonyl)-${\beta}$-D-threopentofuranosyl)thymine was used as a FLT precursor, on which the tert-butyloxycarbonyl group was introduced to protect N3-position and nitrobenzenesulfonyl group. Radiolabeling of nosyl substitued precursor with $^{18}F$ was performed in acetonitrile at $120^{\circ}C$ and deproteced with 0.5 N HCI. The cell uptake was measured in cultured 9L glioma cell. The biodistribution was evaluated in 9L tumor bearing rats after intravenous injection at 10 min, 30 min, 60 min and 120 min and obtained PET image 60 minutes after injection. Results: The radiochemical yield was about 20-30% and radiochemical purity was more than 95% after HPLC purification. Cellular uptake of $[^{18}F]$FLT was increased as time elapsed. At 120 min post-injection, the ratios of tumor/blood, tumor/muscle and tumor/brain were $1.61{\pm}0.34,\;1.70{\pm}0.30\;and\;9.33{\pm}2.22$, respectively. The 9L tumor was well visualized at 60 min post injection in PET image. Conclusion: The uptake of $[^{18}F]$FLT in tumor was higher than in normal brain and PET image of $[^{18}F]$FLT was acceptable. These results suggest the possibility of $[^{18}F]$FLT at an imaging agent for brain tumor.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.290-297
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• 1998

Purpose : The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of 3-[$^{131}I$]iodo-O-methyl-L-${\alpha}$-methyltyrosine ([$^{131}I$]OMIMT) as an agent for tumor image. Materials and Methods : After synthesis of 4-O-methyl-L-${\alpha}$-methyltyrosine (OMAMT), OMAMT was labeled with [$^{131}I$] using Iodogen method. In vitro cellular uptake study was performed using 9 L gliosarcoma cells at various time points upto 4 hr. The biodistribution (five rats implanted with the 9 L gliosar-coma cells per group) was evaluated at 30 min, 2 hr, 24 hr after iv injection of 3.7 MBq [$^{131}I$]OMIMT or L-3-[$^{131}I$]iodo-${\alpha}$-methyltyrosine [$^{131}I$]IMT). Gamma camera images were obtained at 30 min, 2 hr and 24 hr. Results: [$^{131}I$]OMIMT uptake was 3.3 times and 2.5 times higher than [$^{131}I$]IMT uptake at 30 min and 60 min, respectively and same after 2 hr in in vitro study using 9L gliosarcoma cells. Maximum accumulation in tumor occurred at 30 min for both [$^{131}I$]OMIMT and [$^{131}I$]IMT in tumor bearing rats. The tumor uptake of [$^{131}I$]OMIMT was significantly higher than that of [$^{131}I$]IMT at early time point studied ($3.74{\pm}0.48$ vs $0.38{\pm}0.17%$ ID/g at 30 min and $2.40{\pm}0.17$ vs $0.24{\pm}0.03%$ ID/g at 2 hr, respectively, p<0.01). However, the tumor uptake of both radiolabels were not significantly different at 24 hr ($0.04{\pm}0.01$ vs $0.05{\pm}0.01%$ ID/g). Tumor was visualized as early as at 30 min in gamma camera images. Conclusion: These data suggested that [$^{131}I$]OMIMT might be a useful tumor imaging agent and has more advantage for the tumor imaging compared to [$^{131}I$]IMT

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.245-252
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• 2014

This study was investigated the change of concentration and toxicity of thermally cross-linked superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (TCL-SPION) on tissues of Sprague-Dawley rats. TCL-SPION at the dose of 15 mg/kg body weight was intravenously injected into the tail vein of the male Sprague-Dawley rats. The fate of TCL-SPION in serum, urine and tissues was observed during 28 days. Serum iron level was maximal at 0.25 h post-injection and gradually declined thereafter. In addition, the sinusoids of liver and the red pulp area of spleen were mainly accumulated iron from 0.5 h to 28-day post-injection. In kidney, iron deposition was detected in the tubular area until 0.5 h after injection. Malondialdehyde concentration in the liver slightly increased with time and was not different with that at zero time. In the liver and spleen, TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 levels of TS treated with TCL-SPION were not different with those of the control during the experimental period. From the results, TCL-SPION could stay fairly long-time in certain tissues after intravenous injection without toxicity. The results indicated that TCL-SPION might be useful and safe as a contrast for the diagnosis of cancer or a carrier of therapeutic reagents to treat diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1599-1605
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• 2008

Biodistribution and lymphoscintigraphy of cyclosporine A (CyA) and technetium-99m ($^{99m}Tc$) were studied using ${^99m}Tc$-labeled dextran acetate (DxA) including CyA. DxA particles were prepared from dextran with acetic anhydride, and CyA was loaded into them. Lymphatic delivery of ${^99m}Tc$-labeled DxA particles containing CyA was evaluated after subcutaneous injection into the foot pad of rats and compared with those of ${^99m}Tc$-labeled human serum albumin (HSA). The labeling efficiency of CyA-loaded ${^99m}Tc$-DxA particles was about 95% at 30 min. The labeling efficiency maintained stably above 80% for 12 h. The percent injected dose (%ID) of CyA-loaded ${^99m}Tc$-DxA was similar to that of ${^99m}Tc$-HSA at the inguinal lymph node after 40 min. The CyA-loaded ${^99m}Tc$-DxA could be as well distributed as ${^99m}Tc$-HSA through the lymph node. The DxA particles could steadily distribute the CyA as well as the ${^99m}Tc$ radiolabeling through the lymph node.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.133-139
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• 1992

To improve the quality of $^{99m}Tc-methylenediphonate$ $(^{99m}Tc-MDP)$ for skeletal imaging, different composed $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ complexes were prepared with addition of antioxidants such as ascorbic acid, getisic acid, and p-aminobenzoic acid. To characterize the different $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ preparations, some physical and biochemical properties of $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ such as thermal stability, lipophilicity and bindability to serum protein were studied and organ distribution pattern of these complexes also compared. The thermal stabilities of $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ contained antioxidants were dependant mainly on pH, temperature, and elapsed time after the preparation. $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ complex contained gentisic acid as antioxidant was extremely unstable at alkaline condition. The most stable $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ was found in the presence of p-aminobenzoic acid. $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ complexes with antioxidants were very lipophilic but lipophilicity differences in antioxidants were not observed. The bindability of $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ to serum protein was not affect at pH $5.0\sim9.0$ by the different antioxidants. However, protein binding percentage of $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ with ascorbic acid was relatively low (22.7%) at pH 9.0. In biodistribution studies in mice, bone to muscle ratios of $^{99m}Tc-MDP$ preparations containing ascorbic acid, gentisic acid, and p-aminobenzoic acid were 15.3, 24.5, and 30.1, respectively. Im to our results, p-aminobenzoic acid is fond to be the most promising antioxidant.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.285-292
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• 1993

Avidin과 biotin의 높은 결합력을 이용하여 종양 영상을 개선하는 방법이 많이 연구되고 있다. 본 실험에서는 이러한 목적으로 쓰기 위하여 적당한 $^{99m}Tc$ 표지 avidin을 제조하였다. Avidin을 표지하기 위하여 우선 $^{99m}Tc$과 안정한 킬레이트를 형성할 수 있는 benzoylmercaptoacetyltriglycine (Bz-MAG3)과 biocytin을 화학적으로 결합시킨 Bz-MAG3-biocytin을 합성하였다. 이 화합물을 Tc-99m으로 표지시켜 avidin 또는 streptavidin을 1:1로 섞어 줌으로서 Tc-99m으로 표지된 avidin과 streptavidin을 제조하였다. 이들의 생쥐 생체내 분포를 조사한 결과 avidin의 경우 높은 간(56.6%, 10min)과 신장(28.5%, 10min) 축적을 보였고 streptavidin의 경우 높은 신장 축적 (28.9%, 21hr)을 보였다. Avidin의 높은 정상 조직 축적을 줄이기 위하여 succinic acid를 결합시켜 등전점(pI)을 낮춘 다음 같은 실험을 하여 본 결과 신장 축적율은 pI가 $7.0{\sim}9.3,\;5.5{\sim}6.2,\;4.0{\sim}4.8$로 낮아졌을 경우 19.0%, 3.1%, 1.7%로 각각 떨어졌지만 간에의 축적은 pI 변화에 따른 상관성을 찾아 볼 수가 없었다. 체내 제거율을 측정하여 본 결과 pI를 변화시킨 avidin과 변화시키지 않은 avdin들은 반감기가 13.5에서 16.0시간 사이로 큰 차이점을 보이지 않았는데 streptavidin은 반감기 61.5시간 정도로 느리게 제거된다는 것을 알았다. 이 실험의 결과 1. Avidin을 $^{99m}Tc$-MAG3-biocytin으로 안정하게 표지할 수 있었고, 2. pI가 낮아진 avidin은 신장에의 축적율이 크게 감소되었으며, 3. $^{99m}Tc$으로 표지된 avidin과 streptavidin은 먼저 간으로 흡수된 후 대사된 다음 신장으로 배설된다는 사실을 알았다.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2003

GX-12 is a naked DNA vaccine developed by the DongA Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Genexine for the treatment of HIV infection. This study was peformed to evaluate the biodistribution and expression of GX-12 mRNA in gonadal tissues, and to investigate the histopathological changes after the repeated intramuscular injection. GX-12 (400 $\mu\textrm{g}$/head) was injected into the left anterior tibialis once a week for four weeks. On day 1, 5, 15, 30 and 45 after the final administration, gonadal tissues (testes, epididymis, seminal vesicles, penis, prostate glands, ovaries, vagina, uterus) and the injection site (muscle) were harvested and examined for the expression of mRNA by RT-PCR. In addition, histopathological examination was peformed at each time point. At the injection site, mRNA expression of GX-12 was detected only at early time points (1 ~ 15 days after injection) but not thereafter. However, in gonadal tissues, mRNA expression was not identified at all time points both in male and female rats. There were no histopathological changes in all reproductive organs and muscle. Based on these results, it is unlikely that the plasmid DNAs of GX-12 was distributed to- and expressed in gonadal tissues, suggesting that the chance of germline integration and transmission is negligible.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.268-271
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• 2004

A 43-year-old man was presented with persistent headache for two weeks. 72 weighted MR imaging showed high signal intensity with surrounding edema in the left frontal lobe. These findings were considered with intracranial tumor such as glioma or metastasis. Tc-99m tetrofosmin SPECT showed focal radiotracer accumulation in the left frontal lobe. The operative specimen contained cerebral infarction with organizing leptomeningeal hematoma by pathologist. Another 73-year-old man was hospitalized for chronic headache. Initial CT showed ill-defined hypodensity with mass effect in the right parietal lobe. Tc-99m tetrofosmin SPECT showed focal radiotracer uptake in the right parietal lobe. These findings were considered with low-grade glioma or infarction. Follow-up CT after 5 months showed slightly decreased in size of low density in the right parietal lobe, and cerebral infarction is more likely than others. Tc-99m tetrofosmin has been proposed as a cardiotracer of myocardial perfusion imaging and an oncotropic radiotracer. Tc-99m tetrofosmin SPECT image provides a better attractive alternative agent than T1-201 as a tumor-imaging agent, with characteristics such as high-energy flux, short half-life, favorable biodistribution, dosimetry and lower background radioactivity. We have keep in mind on the analysis of Tc-99m tetrofomin imaging when cerebral infarction is being differentiated from brain tumor.