Brain imaging of dopamine D2/D3 receptors of 18F-fallypride-PET in normal volunteers: An AMIC Ray-Scan 64 PET/CT clinical system clinical trial

Objectives The dysfunction of dopamine system, a neurotransmission mode playing important roles in human brain, is implicated in many disorders in nervous system, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). 18F-fallypride is a radioactive molecular probe for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) visualizing the Dopamine D2/D3 receptors in striatal and extrastriatal areas^1-3. We investigated the visualization of dopamine D2/D3 receptors by 18F-fallypride in normal volunteers by using AMIC Ray-Scan 64 PET/CT (CFDA approved) developed by our group.

Methods 15 normal volunteers (8 males and 7 females) were investigated with AMIC Ray-Scan 64 PET/CT. The 18F-fallypride was injected intravenously (2.96MBq/kg) to normal volunteer 1 hour prior to PET/CT brain scanning. Image reconstruction and data analysis was performed by using AMIC Ray-Scan 64 PET/CT software.

Results Reconstructed by AMIC Ray-Scan 64 PET/CT software, the image of dopamine system in extrastriatal areas including substantia nigra and red nucleus is visualized clearly, and signal distribution of 18F-fallypride in caudate nucleus and putamen in left and right side is homogeneous and symmetrical in normal volunteers’ brain scanning (result is depicted in supplement Figure).

Conclusions 18F-fallypride-PET/CT scanning is a promising method in visualizing of neurotransmitters like dopamine receptors due to the long half-life and its strong signal, comparing to other radiotracers. In this study, we confirmed that the AMIC Ray-Scan 64 PET/CT system, as well as 18F-fallypride, performs excellently in dopamine D2/D3 receptors imaging in normal volunteers. Thus, this Ray-Scan system could be widely used in nervous system disease diagnosis and drug discovery, as well as other clinical applications.

Research Support The research is supported by National Key Instrumentation Development Project (2011YQ030114), Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81421004), and Special High-performance Medical Diagnostic Equipment Program (2013) from Development and Reform Commission in China.