TY - JOUR T1 - PET tracing of biodistribution for orally administered <sup>64</sup>Cu-labeled polystyrene in mice JF - Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO - J Nucl Med DO - 10.2967/jnumed.120.256982 SP - jnumed.120.256982 AU - Changkeun Im AU - Hyeongi Kim AU - Javeria Zaheer AU - Jung Young Kim AU - Yong Jin Lee AU - Choong Mo Kang AU - Jin Su Kim Y1 - 2021/07/01 UR - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/early/2021/07/08/jnumed.120.256982.abstract N2 - Purpose: Plastics are used commonly in the world because of its convenience and cost-effectiveness. Microplastics, an environmental threat and human health risk, are widely detected in food, and consequently ingested. However degraded plastics are found everywhere, which cause environmental threat and human health risk. Therefore, real-time monitoring of orally administered microplastics is tremendously important to trace them in the body. Methods: In this study, to visualize their absorption path, we labeled polystyrene with [64Cu]Cu-DOTA. We prepared radiolabeled polystyrene with 64Cu after, [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-polystyrene was then orally administered to mice and evaluate its transit and absorption in mice using PET imaging. The absorption path and distribution of [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-polystyrene were determined using positron emission tomography (PET) over 48 h. Ex vivo tissue-radio thin-layer chromatography (Ex vivo-radioTLC) was used to demonstrate the existence of [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-polystyrene in tissue. Results: PET images demonstrated that [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-polystyrene began to transit to the intestine within 1 h. [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-polystyrene accumulation in the liver was also observed. Biodistribution of [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-polystyrene confirmed the observed distribution of [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-polystyrene from PET images. Ex vivo-radioTLC was used to demonstrate that the detected gamma rays originated from [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-polystyrene. Conclusion: This study provided evidence of microplastic accumulation and existence in tissue by using PET imaging, and cross confirmed by ex vivo-radioTLC. The information provided may be used as the basis for future studies on the toxicity of microplastics. ER -