Metabolism of no-carrier-added 2-[18F]fluoro-L-tyrosine in rats

Background: Several fluorine-18 labelled fluoroamino acids have been evaluated as tracers for the quantitative assessment of cerebral protein synthesis in vivo by positron emission tomography (PET). Among these, 2-[18F]fluoro-L-tyrosine (2-[18F]Tyr) has been studied in mice at a low specific activity. Its incorporation into proteins is fast and metabolism via other pathways is limited. The present in vivo study was carried out in normal awake rats using no-carrier-added 2-[18F]Tyr. Under normal physiological conditions, we have studied the incorporation into proteins and the metabolism of the tracer in different brain areas. Methods: No-carrier-added 2-[18F]Tyr was administered to awake rats equipped with chronic arterial and venous catheters. The time course of the plasma activity was studied by arterial blood sampling. The biodistribution of the activity in the main organs was studied at the end of the experiment. The distribution of radioactive species in plasma and brain regions was studied by acidic precipitation of the proteins and HPLC analysis of the supernatant. Results: The absolute uptake of radioactivity in brain regions was homogenous. In awake rats, nocarrier-added 2-[18F]Tyr exhibits a fast and almost quantitative incorporation into the proteins fractions of cerebellum and cortex. In striatum, this incorporation into proteins and the unchanged fraction of the tracer detected by HPLC could be lower than in other brain regions. Conclusion: This study confirms the potential of 2-[18F]fluoro-L-tyrosine as a tracer for the assessment of the rate of protein synthesis by positron emission tomography. The observed metabolism suggests a need for a correction for the appearance of metabolites, at least in plasma

2 and 4-[18F]fluorotropapride, two specific D2 receptor ligand for PET.

Tropapride, (exo)-2,3-dimethoxy-N-[8-(phenylmethyl)-8- azabicyclo[3.2.1]oct-3-yl]benzamide hydrochloride, has been labeled with fluorine-18 at the 2- and 4-positions of its benzylic group. Two synthetic pathways were investigated: the first one required the alkylation of the norbenzyl precursor with 2- or 4-[18F]fluorobenzyl bromide (radiochemical yield of 5% EOB, 180 min); the second method consisted of a reductive amination of norbenzyl tropapride with 2- or 4-[18F]fluorobenzaldehyde (20% EOB, 110 min). In both cases, the specific activity was found to be greater than 1 Ci/mumol (EOS). Animal studies in rats showed the percentage of the injected dose localizing in the whole brain to be 0.6 +/- 0.09 and 0.2 +/- 0.03 at 2 h post injection for the para- and the ortho-[18F]fluoro analogs of tropapride respectively. Cerebral biodistribution studies showed at 4 h a striatum uptake of 5 +/- 0.7% of the injected dose per gram of striatum for the para derivative with a low fixation into the frontal cortex and the cerebellum (% ID/g FC < 0.4 and % ID/g Cb < 0.3). The selectivity of 4-[18F]fluorotropapride for D2 dopaminergic sites was demonstrated through blocking experiments with ketanserin, spiperone and halopemide. The saturability was confirmed by the use of variable specific activities. These preliminary results showed that 4-[18F]fluorotropapride can be considered as a potent radiopharmaceutical for the study of the dopaminergic system with PET