Is the ⁶⁷Cu production worldwide feasible for expanding preclinical and clinical studies? How can we face the ingrowing demands of this emerging and promising theranostic radionuclide for personalized therapies? This review looks at the different production routes, including the accelerator- and reactor-based ones, providing a comprehensive overview of the actual ⁶⁷Cu supply, with brief insight into its use in non-clinical and clinical studies. In addition to the most often explored nuclear reactions, this work focuses on the ⁶⁷Cu separation and purification techniques, as well as the target material recovery procedures that are mandatory for the economic sustainability of the production cycle. The quality aspects, such as radiochemical, chemical, and radionuclidic purity, with particular attention to the coproduction of the counterpart ⁶⁴Cu, are also taken into account, with detailed comparisons among the different production routes. Future possibilities related to new infrastructures are included in this work, as well as new developments on the radiopharmaceuticals aspects.

JWH-018 and AKB48 are two synthetic cannabinoids (SCBs) belonging to different structural classes and illegally marketed as incense, herbal preparations or chemical supply for theirs psychoactive cannabis-like effects. Clinical reports from emergency room reported psychomotor agitation as one of the more often observed effects in people assuming SCBs. The present study was aimed to investigate the psychostimulant effect of JWH-018 and AKB48 in male CD-1 mice and to compare their effects with those caused by the administration of cocaine and amphetamine. In vivo studies showed that JWH-018, AKB48, as cocaine and amphetamine, facilitated spontaneous locomotion in mice and their effects were prevented by CB1 receptor blockade and dopamine D1/5 and D2/3 receptors inhibition. SPECT-CT studies on dopamine transporter (DAT) revealed that JWH-018 and AKB48 decreased the [123I]-FP-CIT binding in the striatum of mice, in a similar manner to cocaine and amphetamine. Conversely, in vitro competition binding on mouse and human DAT revealed that, unlike cocaine and amphetamine, JWH-018 and AKB48 did not bind to DAT. Moreover, microdialysis study showed that systemic administration of JWH-018, AKB48, cocaine and amphetamine stimulated dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens shell of freely moving mice. Finally, unlike amphetamine and cocaine, JWH-018 and AKB48 did not induce any changes on spontaneous [3H]-DA efflux from murine striatal synaptosomes. The present results indicate that SCBs could facilitate striatal dopamine release with different mechanisms respect to those of cocaine and amphetamine. Furthermore, they demonstrate, for the first time, that JWH-018 and AKB48 induce a psychostimulant effect in mice possibly related to the facilitation of Nucleus Accumbens dopamine release induced by the two compounds. These data, according to clinical reports, outline the potential psychostimulant action of SCBs highlighting their dangerousness on human health.

The¹⁸⁸Re radioisotope represents a useful radioisotope for the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals for therapeutic applications, particularly because of its favorable nuclear properties. The nuclide decay pattern is through the emission of a principle beta particle having 2.12 MeV maximum energy, which is enough to penetrate and destroy abnormal tissues, and principle gamma rays (Eγ=155 keV), which can efficiently be used for imaging and calculations of radiation dose.¹⁸⁸Re may be conveniently produced by¹⁸⁸W/¹⁸⁸Re generator systems. The challenges related to the double neutron capture reaction route to provide only modest yield of the parent¹⁸⁸W radionuclide indeed have been one of the major issues about the use of¹⁸⁸Re in nuclear medicine. Since the specific activity of¹⁸⁸W used in the generator is relatively low (<185 GBq/g), the elutedRe188O4-can have a low radioactive concentration, often ineffective for radiopharmaceutical preparation. However, several efficient postelution concentration techniques have been developed, which yield clinically usefulRe188O4-solutions. This review summarizes the technologies developed for the preparation of¹⁸⁸W/¹⁸⁸Re generators, postelution concentration of the¹⁸⁸Re perrhenate eluate, and a brief discussion of new chemical strategies available for the very high yield preparation of¹⁸⁸Re radiopharmaceuticals.

The widespread availability of novel radioactive isotopes showing nuclear characteristics suitable for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in nuclear medicine (NM) has experienced a great development in the last years, particularly as a result of key advancements of cyclotron-based radioisotope production technologies. At Legnaro National Laboratories of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (LNL-INFN), Italy, a 70-MeV high current cyclotron has been recently installed. This cyclotron will be dedicated not only to pursuing fundamental nuclear physics studies, but also to research related to other scientific fields with an emphasis on medical applications. LARAMED project was established a few years ago at LNL-INFN as a new research line aimed at exploiting the scientific power of nuclear physics for developing innovative applications to medicine. The goal of this program is to elect LNL as a worldwide recognized hub for the development of production methods of novel medical radionuclides, still unavailable for the scientific and clinical community. Although the research facility is yet to become fully operative, the LARAMED team has already started working on the cyclotron production of conventional medical radionuclides, such as Tc-99m, and on emerging radionuclides of high potential medical interest, such as Cu-67, Sc-47, and Mn-52.