These studies were carried out in female Wistar rats weighing 250–300 g. All the procedures were performed following a protocol previously approved by the “Ethical and Biosafety Committee for Research on Animals” at the University of Navarra in line with the European legislation on animal experiments.
Animals were lightly anaesthetised with 2% isoflurane gas for administration of nanoparticles (dispersed in 1 mL water) by oral gavage, and then quickly awakened. Each animal received one single dose of radiolabeled nanoparticles (1 mCi; 0.8–1.0 mg radiolabeled nanoparticles that were completed with up to 10 mg with unlabelled nanoparticles). SPECT/CT studies were performed three hours after administration of 99mTc-nanoparticles, animals were anaesthetised with 2% isoflurane gas and placed in prone position on the gamma camera (Symbia T2 Truepoint; Siemens Medical System, Malvern, USA). The acquisition parameters for SPECT studies were: 128 × 128 matrix, 90 images, 7 images per second and CT: 110 mAs and 130 Kv, 130 images, slice thickness 3 mm. Fused images were processed using the Syngo MI Applications TrueD software.
Animals were lightly anaesthetised with 2% isoflurane gas for administration of nanoparticles (dispersed in 1 mL water) by oral gavage, and then quickly awakened. Each animal received one single dose of radiolabeled nanoparticles (1 mCi; 0.8–1.0 mg radiolabeled nanoparticles that were completed with up to 10 mg with unlabelled nanoparticles). SPECT/CT studies were performed three hours after administration of 99mTc-nanoparticles, animals were anaesthetised with 2% isoflurane gas and placed in prone position on the gamma camera (Symbia T2 Truepoint; Siemens Medical System, Malvern, USA). The acquisition parameters for SPECT studies were: 128 × 128 matrix, 90 images, 7 images per second and CT: 110 mAs and 130 Kv, 130 images, slice thickness 3 mm. Fused images were processed using the Syngo MI Applications TrueD software.