PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Witten, Mark L.
AU  - Bowers, Mark C.
AU  - Hall, Jack N.
AU  - Quan, Stuart F.
AU  - Chen, Huizhong
AU  - Lemen, Richard J.
TI  - A Rapid Analytical Method for Measuring Drug Distribution in Aerosols
DP  - 1992 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
PG  - 155--158
VI  - 20
IP  - 3
4099  - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/20/3/155.short
4100  - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/20/3/155.full
SO  - J. Nucl. Med. Technol.1992 Sep 01; 20
AB  - We have developed a rapid analytical method for measuring drug distribution in aerosols. This method utilizes paper chromatography and a cascade impactor system to determine the distribution of nedocromil sodium (Fisons) and a radioactive tracer, technetium-labeled diethylenetriamine pentaacetate (99mTc-DTPA), in an aerosol generated by a Fisoneb™ nebulizer. Paper chromatography demonstrated that except for Stage 1 of the cascade impactor, which collects the largest particles, more than 93% of the aerosol mixture of nedocromil sodium and 99mTc-DTPA eluted at the same point. Further, the distribution of 99mTc-DTPA gamma counts as measured by a cascade impactor and the concentration of nedocromil sodium as measured by densitometry had the same rank order of concentration in the four stages of the cascade impactor. We conclude that this method can rapidly determine the distribution of a drug within a liquid aerosol and validates the potential use of 99mTc-DTPA as a marker of drug distribution in the respiratory system.