TY - JOUR
T1 - In-vivo imaging characteristics of two fluorinated flumazenil radiotracers in the rat
AU - Dedeurwaerdere, Stefanie
AU - Gregoire, Marie Claude
AU - Vivash, Lucy
AU - Roselt, Peter
AU - Binns, David
AU - Fookes, Christopher
AU - Greguric, Ivan
AU - Pham, Tien
AU - Loc'H, Christian
AU - Katsifis, Andrew
AU - Hicks, Rodney J.
AU - O'Brien, Terence J.
AU - Myers, Damian E.
PY - 2009/6
Y1 - 2009/6
N2 - Purpose: [11C]Flumazenil shows promise as a clinical and research PET radiotracer to image changes in GABAA central benzodiazepine receptor (cBZR), but its widespread use has been limited by practical limitations of [11C]. This study evaluated the imaging characteristics of two fluorinated PET radiotracers in rats in vivo: [ 18F]fluoroflumazenil ([18F]FFMZ) and [18F] flumazenil ([18F]FMZ). Methods: PET acquisitions were performed on a small-animal scanner following injection of [18F]FFMZ in nine rats and [18F]FMZ in eight rats. The following treatments were investigated: (1) injection of the tracer dose, (2) presaturation then injection of the tracer dose, and (3) injection of the tracer dose followed by a displacement injection. Unchanged tracer was measured in plasma and brain structures in four animals 10 and 30 min after injection, and ex-vivo autoradiography was also performed. Results: For both [18F]FFMZ and [18F]FMZ maximal brain activity peaked rapidly, and was highest in the hippocampus (1.12±0.06 SUV, 1.24±0.10 SUV, respectively), and lowest in the pons (1.00±0.07 SUV, 1.03±0.09 SUV, respectively). By 50 min after injection, maximal uptake for [18F]FFMZ and [ 18F]FMZ had decreased in the hippocampus to 18±3% and 80±1% (p<0.01), respectively. The presaturation and displacement studies showed a higher nonspecific component for [18F]FFMZ than for [18F]FMZ. Metabolite studies showed that at 30 min only 10% of the signal was from [18F]FFMZ in the brain. This nonspecific binding was apparent on autoradiography. In contrast, [18F]FMZ accounted for >70% of the signal in the brain, which resulted in well-defined regional binding on autoradiography. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that [ 18F]FMZ is a superior radiotracer to [18F]FFMZ for in-vivo PET imaging of the GABAA/cBZR, having slower metabolism and leading to lower concentrations of metabolites in the brain that results in a substantially better signal-to-noise ratio.
AB - Purpose: [11C]Flumazenil shows promise as a clinical and research PET radiotracer to image changes in GABAA central benzodiazepine receptor (cBZR), but its widespread use has been limited by practical limitations of [11C]. This study evaluated the imaging characteristics of two fluorinated PET radiotracers in rats in vivo: [ 18F]fluoroflumazenil ([18F]FFMZ) and [18F] flumazenil ([18F]FMZ). Methods: PET acquisitions were performed on a small-animal scanner following injection of [18F]FFMZ in nine rats and [18F]FMZ in eight rats. The following treatments were investigated: (1) injection of the tracer dose, (2) presaturation then injection of the tracer dose, and (3) injection of the tracer dose followed by a displacement injection. Unchanged tracer was measured in plasma and brain structures in four animals 10 and 30 min after injection, and ex-vivo autoradiography was also performed. Results: For both [18F]FFMZ and [18F]FMZ maximal brain activity peaked rapidly, and was highest in the hippocampus (1.12±0.06 SUV, 1.24±0.10 SUV, respectively), and lowest in the pons (1.00±0.07 SUV, 1.03±0.09 SUV, respectively). By 50 min after injection, maximal uptake for [18F]FFMZ and [ 18F]FMZ had decreased in the hippocampus to 18±3% and 80±1% (p<0.01), respectively. The presaturation and displacement studies showed a higher nonspecific component for [18F]FFMZ than for [18F]FMZ. Metabolite studies showed that at 30 min only 10% of the signal was from [18F]FFMZ in the brain. This nonspecific binding was apparent on autoradiography. In contrast, [18F]FMZ accounted for >70% of the signal in the brain, which resulted in well-defined regional binding on autoradiography. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that [ 18F]FMZ is a superior radiotracer to [18F]FFMZ for in-vivo PET imaging of the GABAA/cBZR, having slower metabolism and leading to lower concentrations of metabolites in the brain that results in a substantially better signal-to-noise ratio.
KW - Flumazenil
KW - GABA/cBZ receptor
KW - PET
KW - Radioligand
KW - Rat
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67349105590&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00259-009-1066-4
DO - 10.1007/s00259-009-1066-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 19205698
AN - SCOPUS:67349105590
SN - 1619-7070
VL - 36
SP - 958
EP - 965
JO - European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
JF - European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
IS - 6
ER -