Comparison of neutral and cationic myocardial perfusion agents: characteristics of accumulation in cultured cells.

Uptake and washout kinetics of two new neutral lipophilic technetium-99m-labeled boronic acid adducts of technetium tris(dioxime) (BATO complexes) were studied in monolayers of contractile chick heart cells and compared to the cationic myocardial perfusion agents, 99mTc(CNCH2C(CH3)2OCH3)6+ (Tc-MIBI) and 201Tl+. 99mTcCl(CDOH)2(CDO)(BCH3), where CDO = cyclohexanedione dioxime (CDO-MeB), had a 7-fold greater net accumulation than Tc-MIBI and the most rapid unidirectional washout with a fast initial phase and a slower secondary component. Incubation with cationic membrane transport inhibitors or metabolic inhibitors had little or modest influence, respectively, on uptake of these BATO complexes. Studies with NIH 3T3 fibroblasts indicated that the neutral complexes did not show myocyte specific accumulation.