Figure 3. SPECT analysis of in vivo accumulation of Tc-99m-HYNIC-VEGF-c.

VEGF-c (which targets both VEGFR2 and VEGFR3) was tagged with HYNIC chelators and then labeled with Tc-99m and injected intravenously in melatonin and vehicle treated mice. One hour after injection, SPECT images were obtained using dedicated animal scanner. Vehicle treated mice showed increased accumulation of Tc-99m-HYNIC-VEGF-c in the mammary tumor (A, Intersection of lines indicate the tumor, with a volume of 865.69 mm³ at the 21th day) compared to that of melatonin treated mammary tumors (B, Intersection of lines indicate the tumor, with a volume of 130.69 mm³ at the 21th day) C. Semi-quantitative analysis of total radioactivity normalized to contralateral muscles showing the intensity of radioactivity in the vehicle and melatonin treated animals.