Drug metabolism: Comparison of biodistribution profile of holmium in three different compositions in healthy Wistar rats

• This article brings the biodistribution of holmium in 3 different compositions.
• The results, as a technical note may help other researchers around the world to elucidate the mechanism (biological behavior) and the best strategy to use holmium as radiopharmaceutical.

Radioisotope holmium is a candidate to be used in cancer treatment and diagnosis. There are different holmium salts and they present distinct solubility and consequently different biodistribution profiles. In this work, we aimed to evaluate the biodistribution profiles of two holmium salts (chloride and sulfate) and holmium nanoparticles (oxide) through an in vivo biodistribution assay using animal model. Samples were labeled with technetium-99m and administered in Wistar rats by retro-orbital route. Holmium chloride is highly soluble in water and it was quickly filtered by the kidneys while holmium sulfate that presents lower solubility in water was mainly found in the liver and the spleen. However, both the salts showed a similar biodistribution profile. On the other hand, holmium oxide showed a very different biodistribution profile since it seemed to interact with all organs. Due to its particle size range (approximately 100 nm) it was not intensively filtered by the kidneys being found in high quantities in many organs, for this reason its use as a nanoradiopharmaceutical could be promising in the oncology field.

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