Synthesis of oleyl-4[¹³¹I]-iodobenzoate for long-term cell trafficking

Synthesis of oleyl-4[¹³¹I]-iodobenzoate for long-term cell trafficking

Great efforts are currently devoted to the development of new approaches for the labeling of cells using appropriate radionuclides. While fluoride-18 and copper-64 have been extensively studied as short-term and intermediate-term trafficking agents, iodide was studied less intensely. Here, we report a new cell labeling agent labeled with $^{131}I$, $[^{131}I]$oleyl-4-iodobenzoate ($[^{131}I]$OIB) for long-term cell trafficking. A precursor of $[^{131}I]$OIB was obtained in two steps, with the yield of 35%. The radiochemical yield of $[^{131}I]$OIB was over 50%. While $[^{131}I]$OIB could label different cells, L6 cells showed the highest cell-labeling efficiency. The $[^{131}I]$OIB-labeled L6 cells were imprinted into a rat heart, and then monitored noninvasively for 2 weeks by gamma camera imaging. We conclude that $[^{131}I]$OIB is a good candidate molecule for a long-term cell trafficking agent.