Biodistribution and dosimetry of free 211At, 125I- and 131I- in rats.

131I is widely used for therapy in the clinic and 125I and 131I, and increasingly 211At, are often used in experimental studies. It is important to know the biodistribution and dosimetry for these radionuclides to determine potential risk organs when using radiopharmaceuticals containing these radionuclides. The purpose of this study was to investigate the biodistribution of 125I-, 131I-, and free 211At in rats and to determine absorbed doses to various organs and tissues. Male Sprague Dawley rats were injected simultaneously with 0.1-0.3 MBq 125I- and 0.1-0.3 MBq 131I-, or 0.05-0.2 MBq 211At and sacrificed 1 hour to 7 days after injection. The activities and activity concentrations in organs and tissues were determined and mean absorbed doses were calculated. The biodistribution of 125I- was similar to that of 131I- but the biodistribution of free 211At was different compared to 125I- and 131I-. The activity concentration of radioiodine was higher compared with 211At in the thyroid and lower in all extrathyroidal tissues. The mean absorbed dose per unit injected activity was highest to the thyroid. 131I gave the highest absorbed dose to the thyroid, and 211At gave the highest absorbed dose to all other tissues studied.