Biodistribution of whey protein labaled with Tc-99m on the experimental animals

Protein powders, which constitute one of the most important and most used subspecies of athlete supplements with a wide variety of products, are used by many people and athletes around the world. Generally, protein dust and similar derivative protein supplements are used by the athletes especially because of the effect of the proteins on muscle development. In addition to this, cancer diseases, various diseases causing muscle loss and so on. It is also used to provide support to patients in addition to their nutrition. Whey protein (English 'Whey Protein') is a protein made from whey produced during the fermentation of cheese. The main beta-lactoglobulin (~ 65%) contains alpha-lactalbumin (~ 25%) and albumin (~ 8%). There is no any detailed study about biodistribution of Whey protein in the literature. In this study done for seeing biodistribution of WHEY protein (WH) on the experimental animals it was aimed to quantitatively determine the accumulation of Whey protein on experimental animals. This study was done for he first time in the literatüre. In this study, whey protein was firstly labeled with Tc-99m using tin chloride reduction method. The yield of binding in this way was found to be 95%. In the next step, quality control of radioactively labeled protein (99mTc-WH) was carried out by paper electrophoresis technique. Serum Physiological (SF, 0,9% NaCl) was used as a suitable solvant system in electrophoresis studies. After electrophoresis studies, lipophilicity and stability studies were carried out, respectively. In these studies 99mTc-WH was found to be stable at 85% in rat blood serum for 2 hours. At the last stage, scintigraphy and biodistribution studies were carried out on female Albino Wistar rats. As a result of these studies, it was determined that WHEY protein accumulated at high concentrations in the breast, the ovary and the pancreas in female rats. Keywords: Whey protein, Radiolabeling, 99mTc.