In vitro evaluation of 99m Tc-sultamicillin for infection imaging.

Early detection of the site of infection non-invasively with radiolabeled molecules is important for the success of treatment. Technetium-99m labeled antibiotics have the potential to discriminate between bacterial infection and sterile inflammation. Sultamicillin is the tosylate salt of the double ester of sulbactam plus ampicillin. In this study, Sultamicillin was labeled with 99m Tc according to the stannous chloride method. Quality control studies of radiolabeled sultamicillin were performed by radiochromatografic methods. In vitro binding assays were performed in live and heat-killed gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and gram-negative Escherichia coli strains. The radiolabeling yield of 99m Tc-sultamicillin was determined as 97.8 ± 3.1 % (n=5). Maximum bacterial uptake of 99m Tc-sultamicillin was 80.7 ± 11.00 % at four hours for living S. aureus and 93.2 ± 4.40 % at two hours for E. coli. Bacterial uptake study results show that Sultamicillin has the potential to be a nuclear imaging agent, especially in infections caused by Gram-negative E. coli and gram-positive S. aureus. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.