The ISOLPHARM project: ISOL-based production of radionuclides for medical applications

Radionuclides for radiopharmaceuticals can be produced in cyclotrons or nuclear reactors. Each of these production modes has serious issues, such as high target costs, production of long-lived wastes and contaminants, expensive separation. For this reason, new methods are under consideration for the production of highly pure radionuclides. The ISOL (Isotope Separation On-Line) method is the major technique for the production of radioactive ion beams for nuclear physics applications. The SPES-ISOLPHARM project at INFN-LNL (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare-Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro) is a feasibility study for the production of medical isotopes exploiting the ISOL method. The ongoing activities concerning a recent experiment focused on ¹¹¹Ag, a study performed in collaboration with Padova and Trento Universities, is presented.

     

Bisphosphonate complexation and calcium doping in silica xerogels as a combined strategy for local and controlled release of active platinum antitumor compounds

The production of bone substitute biomimetic materials which could also act as antitumoral drug release agents is of enormous interest. We report in this paper the synthesis and characterization of a novel platinum dinuclear complex containing a geminal bisphosphonate and its embodiment into xerogels prepared by the sol-gel method. Our goal was to obtain a hybrid inorganic matrix that could release a platinum species active against bone tumors or metastases, upon local implant. Two silica xerogels were considered: one was composed of pure silica, while the other contained also some calcium as potential release-modulating agent thanks to its high affinity for bisphophonates. The platinum-complex loading capacity of the inorganic matrices, the release kinetics in buffer simulating physiological conditions, and the stability upon storage were investigated as a function of Pt-complex concentration and calcium addition. We found that the presence of calcium in the composites deeply influences not only the stability of the formulations but also the nature of the platinum complex liberated in solution.