Purpose: It has recently been shown that incubation of iodixanol in rat liver homogenates resulted in formation of iodixanol metabolites. The present study was performed to see if this incubation resulted in any binding of iodixanol to high molecular weight substances, as such a high molecular weight conjugate of iodixanol theoretically might cause initiation of an immune response against this contrast agent.
Material and methods: 125I-iodixanol was incubated with rat liver homogenates for 1 h at 37 degrees C and 17 h at 25 degrees C followed by analysis of the supernatant fractions using gel-permeation chromatography with on-line radiochemical detection.
Results: No traces of radioactivity could be detected in the chromatograms, except at the retention time of free iodixanol.
Conclusion: No binding of iodixanol to high molecular weight substances could be demonstrated after incubation of iodixanol with rat liver homogenates.