Identification of transplanted pancreatic islet cells by radioactive Dithizone-[131I]-Histamine conjugate. Preliminary report

Abstract

Background: The unique mechanism of dithizone action in the interior of the viable pancreatic islet suggests the possible development of a specific radiopharmaceutical that may have a potential clinical application in the diagnosis of the pancreatic organ allografts or islets rejection. The radiodiagnostic properties of the newly developed radioactive analogue of dithizone, i.e. Dithizone-[¹³¹I]-Histamine conjugate have been evaluated in the present study.
METHODS: The four islet cells transplantation models were chosen for this purpose.
The most important feature of the Dithizone-[¹³¹I]-Histamine conjugate is its possessed ability of zinc chelation. As was presented in the recent study, the conjugate stains pink-reddish the isolated pancreatic islets in vitro. Among the studied transplantation models, only the islets grafting under testis capsule enabled determination of the pancreatic islets in rats by radioactive Dithizone-[¹³¹I]-Histamine conjugate. The level of the radioactivity in the recipient testis (right) was almost two times higher compared to the controls (0.24 vs. 0.13% ID/g, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS:These preliminary data demonstrate the ability of the developed radioactive analogue of dithizone for in vivo identification of transplanted pancreatic islets, and suggests a potential clinical application of the radiodithizone in the diagnosis of the pancreatic islet rejection.