Pimonidazole Description

Pimonidazole is a novel hypoxia marker for complementary study of tumor hypoxia and cell proliferation in tumor. Pimonidazole accumulates in hypoxic cells via covalent binding with macromolecules or by forming reductive metabolites after reduction of its nitro group, it can be used for qualitative and quantitative assessment of tumor hypoxia.

Pimonidazole Hydrochloride is the hydrochloride salt form of pimonidazole. The reasons for choosing pimonidazole HCl as signature hypoxia marker included its chemical stability; high water solubility; wide tissue distribution; and the availability of toxicity data from earlier radiosensitizer studies that allowed a safe dosage to be chosen for hypoxia marking in preclinical and clinical studies. Lastly, the relatively complex chemical structure of the side chain in pimonidazole produced a strong immune response during the creation of antibody reagents and strong binding of those reagents to pimonidazole adducts in vivo.