Gamma counting applications with Hidex AMG in nuclear medicine

Most scientists will agree that time flies in the research lab. In between the rigorous research, detailed planning, and often cumbersome lab work, one is often racing the clock. That is why, more and more present-day laboratories are looking for modern solutions that will not only deliver accurate results but also ease their workflow. Hidex’s Automatic Gamma Counter is becoming an essential tool for increasing nuclear medicine research laboratories around the world for a few simple reasons - unrivalled service and usability.

Hidex: Your reliable partner in Drug Development

A popular application of the gamma counter is drug development. Prior to reaching the clinical study phase, potential drugs are first investigated in the preclinical phase that includes pharmacokinetic and biodistribution studies. The pharmacokinetic and biodistribution studies allow researchers to have a better understanding of the kinetic activity of the drug in the body and the distribution of the drug to the region of interest. For example, researchers developing a drug for pancreatic cancer would likely be interested in understanding how quickly the drug is being absorbed and if the biodistribution is occurring to the pancreas as expected or has altered biodistribution (Demeter 2018).

Why are an increasing number of laboratories choosing the Hidex Automatic Gamma Counter?

Hidex analytical instruments are becoming a name that research laboratories all over the world know and trust. The gamma counter is dedicated to nuclear medicine and PET applications and are compatible for use with isotopes that are commonly used in nuclear medicine, such as 15O, 18F, 89Zr, and 68Ga to name a few. One of the features that customers appreciate the most about the Hidex gamma counter is the onboard balance. The onboard balance allows convenient sample weighing, resulting in less manual labour, faster processing time and leaves less room for error. The gamma counting measurements are then expressed as activity per mass.

With the use of the balance, one can place tissue samples, in tubes and weigh it avoiding manual steps of balance tare and proceed to measuring the sample radioactivity. In a recently published study of molecular imaging, immune checkpoint protein CD278 was used as a target for monitoring chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy with the help of immunoPET imaging. This allowed combining the high affinity of antibodies for surface markers with that of the sensitivity of positron emission tomography (PET) (Simonetta 2021).

Hidex Gamma counter comes in handy for research and can be a real time-saver. To ensure the study is running smoothly, the automatic gamma counter is equipped with easy-to-use software that provides real-time monitoring, sample metadata and automatic storage to minimise errors and maximise time efficiency.

Gamma counting made easy

The applications of gamma counting in nuclear medicine is a long list. With the use of PET radiotracers for pharmacokinetic modelling in preclinical studies, researchers have been able to analyse how different factors, such as sex-specific differences contribute to biodistribution. The implication of this study was to provide insight how gender specific differences need to be taken into consideration while conducting clinical studies (Mairinger 2020).

Drug development is a process with its own challenges and is often augmented by ever increasing regulatory demands. Yet, it is the backbone for fighting new and evolving pathogens and Hidex supports drug development research following good laboratory practice. Laboratories also continue to choose Hidex instruments such as the Automatic Gamma Counter for their research because of the value it adds to their research needs.

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References

Demeter et al. Altered [99mTc] Tc-MDP biodistribution from neutron activation sourced 99Mo. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 2018; 316:619–627

Simonetta et al. Molecular Imaging of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells by ICOS-ImmunoPET. American Association for Cancer Research 2021; 27(4): 1058-1068

Mairinger et al. Plasma pharmacokinetic and metabolism of [18F] THK-5317 are dependent on sex. Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Biology 84-85 2020; 28-32