Is 99Tcm hexamethyl-propyleneamine oxime uptake in the tissues related to glutathione cellular content?

The relationship between the concentration of tissue glutathione (GSH) content and uptake of 99Tcm HMPAO in Sprague Dawley rats was investigated. The GSH content of rat tissue was depleted with diethyl-maleate (DEM) and the ratio of GSH in control to GSH depleted rat was approximately twice that in the brain, liver, kidney, spleen and lung. The GSH content in all the organs studied except the liver had no statistically significant relationship with the uptake of 99Tcm HMPAO. The apparent increase of radioactivity in the liver was due to longer retention of 99Tcm HMPAO. This longer retention was due to stasis of bile flow as confirmed by subsequent experiments in which cholecystokinin (CCK) was administered to GSH depleted rats and compared to the uptake of GSH depleted rats without injection of CCK.