Preclinical pharmacokinetics of radiolabelled hyaluronan

Background: hyaluronan (hya) is a high molecular weight glucosaminoglycan with a great perspective for medical applications. because hya is widespread in the body,it is difficult to determine the fate of exogenously administered hya. methods: in this study,hya of different molecular weights (0.1-1 mda) was labelled with 99mtc,and the distribution profiles were determined after administrating the hya to rats. results: after the intravenous administration of 99mtc-hya,a rapid decrease in the radioactivity of blood samples was observed,presumably because of 99mtc-hya uptake by the liver; only minimal signs of liver radioactivity washout were detected. after the oral administration of 99mtc-hya,no significant absorption to the central compartment was found. a preliminary study using 14c-hya exhibited a different distribution profile than 99mtc-hya because of the different administered dose and the fate of the degradation products. even with 14c-hya,only traces of radioactivity were absorbed after oral administration. conclusion: this paper provides quantitative information regarding the distribution parameters of radiolabelled hya in preclinical experiments. copyright © 2012 by institute of pharmacology polish academy of sciences.