Life Sciences Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Research on In Vivo Studies of Fullerene-Based Materials Using Endohedral Metallofullerene Radiotracers Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (May 1999)

Ever since the discovery of "Buckyballs" in 1986, exotic applications have been suggested, few of which have panned out. Quite early, it was suggested that these novel soccer-ball-shaped molecules could incorporate other atoms or molecules inside and be used as a "delivery device" for radiopharmaceuticals or other drugs. The research represented in this paper suggests the feasibility of this approach.

Biodistribution studies of a water-soluble radioactive metallofullerene compound have been conducted using BALB/c mice. Findings demonstrate the feasibility of using water-solubilized metallofullerene radiotracers to monitor the fate of fullerene-based materials in animals, and suggest that water-solubilized fullerene materials, in general, may be useful components in drug design. This research represents a collaboration between Life Sciences Division’s Molecular Immunology Program and Nuclear Medicine Program, Rice University, and TDA Research. The findings were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Dawson W. Cagle, Stephen J. Kennel, Saed Mirzadeh, J. Michael Alford, and Lon J. Wilson, "In vivo studies of fullerene-based materials using endohedral metallofullerene radiotracers," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 5182-87, April 1999). (Contact: Steve Kennel, 574-0825 or kennelsj@ornl.gov; Funding Source: KP)