MS-325 is a novel blood pool contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging currently undergoing clinical trials to assess blockage in arteries. MS-325 functions by binding to human serum albumin (HSA) in plasma. Binding to HSA serves to prolong plasma half-life, retain the agent in the blood pool, and increase the relaxation rate of water protons in plasma. Ultrafiltration studies with a 5 kDa molecular weight cutoff filter show that MS-325 binds to HSA with stepwise stoichiometric affinity constants (mM(-1)) of K(a1) = 11.0 +/- 2.7, K(a2) = 0.84 +/- 0.16, K(a3) = 0.26 +/- 0.14, and K(a4) = 0.43 +/- 0.24. Under the conditions 0.1 mM MS-325, 4.5% HSA, pH 7.4 (phosphate-buffered saline), and 37 degrees C, 88 +/- 2% of MS-325 is bound to albumin. Fluorescent probe displacement studies show that MS-325 can displace dansyl sarcosine and dansyl-L-asparagine from HSA with inhibition constants (K(i)) of 85 +/- 3 microM and 1500 +/- 850 microM, respectively; however, MS-325 is unable to displace warfarin. These results suggest that MS-325 binds primarily to site II on HSA. The relaxivity of MS-325 when bound to HSA is shown to be site dependent. The Eu(III) analogue of MS-325 is shown to contain one inner-sphere water molecule in the presence and in the absence of HSA. The synthesis of an MS-325 analogue, 5, containing no inner-sphere water molecules is described. Compound 5 is used to estimate the contribution to relaxivity from the outer-sphere water molecules surrounding MS-325. The high relaxivity of MS-325 bound to HSA is primarily because of a 60-100-fold increase in the rotational correlation time of the molecule upon binding (tau(R) = 10.1 +/- 2.6 ns bound vs 115 ps free). Analysis of the nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (T(1) and T(2)) profiles also suggests a decrease in the electronic relaxation rate (1/T(1e) at 20 MHz = 2.0 x 10(8) s(-1) bound vs 1.1 x 10(9) s(-1) free) and an increase in the inner-sphere water residency time (tau(m) = 170 +/- 40 ns bound vs 69 +/- 20 ns free).

Thrombus (blood clot) is implicated in a number of life threatening diseases, e.g., heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism. EP-2104R is an MRI contrast agent designed to detect thrombus by binding to the protein fibrin, present in all thrombi. EP-2104R comprises an 11 amino acid peptide derivatized with 2 GdDOTA-like moieties at both the C- and N-terminus of the peptide (4 Gd in total). EP-2104R was synthesized by a mixture of solid phase and solution techniques. The La(III) analogue was characterized by and 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy and was found to have the expected structure. EP-2104R was found to be significantly more inert to Gd(III) loss than commercial contrast agents. At the most extreme conditions tested (pH 3, 60 degrees C, 96 hrs), less than 10% of Gd was removed from EP-2104R by a challenge with a DTPA based ligand, while the commercial contrast agents equilibrated within minutes to hours. EP-2104R binds equally to two sites on human fibrin (Kd = 1.7 +/- 0.5 microM) and has a similar affinity to mouse, rat, rabbit, pig, and dog fibrin. EP-2104R has excellent specificity for fibrin over fibrinogen (over 100-fold) and for fibrin over serum albumin (over 1000-fold). The relaxivity of EP-2104R bound to fibrin at 37 degrees C and 1.4 T was 71.4 mM(-1) s(-1) per molecule of EP-2104R (17.4 per Gd), about 25 times higher than that of GdDOTA measured under the same conditions. Strong fibrin binding, fibrin selectivity, and high molecular relaxivity enable EP-2104R to detect blood clots in vivo.

A series of 99mTc complexes containing a hydrazinonicotinamide-conjugated cyclic IIb/IIIa receptor antagonist, cyclo(D-Val-NMeArg-Gly-Asp-Mamb-(hydrazinonicotinyl-5- (6-aminocaproic acid))), were synthesized in high yield using tricine or other aminocarboxylates as coligands. These 99mTc complexes have the potential to be used as thrombus imaging agents. The radiolabeling of the HYNIC-conjugated cyclic IIb/IIIa peptide (HYNICtide) was carried out by reaction with pertechnetate in the presence of excess tricine and stannous chloride at pH 4-5. The reaction time and temperature depend on the amount of the HYNICtide and pertechnetate used for the radiolabeling. Very high specific activity (> or = 20,000 mCi/mumol) can be achieved for the complex [99mTc(HYNICtide)(tricine)2] without postlabeling purification. The complex [99mTc(HYNICtide)(tricine)2] was found by two reversed phase HPLC methods to exist as multiple species, some of which interconvert, depending on the temperature, reaction time, and pH of the reaction mixture. The presence of these multiple species is most likely due to different bonding modalities of either the hydrazine moiety of the HYNICtide or the two tricine coligands. The complex [99mTc(HYNICtide)(EDDA)] (EDDA = ethylenediamine-N,N'-diacetic acid) was prepared either by reacting the cyclic IIb/IIIa HYNICtide with pertechnetate, excess EDDA, and stannous chloride at pH 4-5 and 75 degrees C for 30 min or by reacting excess EDDA with [99mTc(HYNICtide)(tricine)2]. The complex [99mTc(HYNICtide)(EDDA)] was found to be stable for at least 12 h in the reaction mixture. Three major species were detected in the radio-HPLC chromatograms, presumably due to the more limited number of possible coordination isomers. Similar results were obtained using other polydentate aminocarboxylates (such as HEDTA, N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediaminetriacetic acid) as coligands. It is clear that the replacement of tricine by other polydentate aminocarboxylates produces 99mTc-HYNICtide complexes with higher stability and fewer coordination isomers.