RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 In Vivo Measurement of the Affinity and Density of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 1 in Rat Brain Using 18F-FITM in Small-Animal PET JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO J Nucl Med FD Society of Nuclear Medicine SP 1601 OP 1607 DO 10.2967/jnumed.112.105908 VO 53 IS 10 A1 Yamasaki, Tomoteru A1 Fujinaga, Masayui A1 Kawamura, Kazunori A1 Yui, Joji A1 Hatori, Akiko A1 Ohya, Tomoyuki A1 Xie, Lin A1 Wakizaka, Hidekatsu A1 Yoshida, Yuichiro A1 Fukumura, Toshimitsu A1 Zhang, Ming-Rong YR 2012 UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/53/10/1601.abstract AB Metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 1 (mGluR1) is a crucial molecular target in the central nervous system disorders. 4-18F-fluoro-N-[4-[6-(isopropylamino)pyrimidin-4-yl]-1,3-thiazol-2-yl]-N-methylbenzamide (18F-FITM) has been recently developed as a useful PET ligand for mGluR1 imaging in our laboratory. In this study, we aimed to measure the affinity and density of mGluR1 using PET with 18F-FITM in rat brain under the in vivo conditions. Methods: Binding potentials (BPND) and amounts of specific binding (bound ligand concentration) at equilibrium state in brain regions were noninvasively estimated using the equilibrium analysis combined with the receptor-blocked approach (EA RBA) for kinetic analysis of 18F-FITM PET results in place of reference tissue methods. Using BPND and specific binding values of rats treated with multidose ligand, we performed Scatchard analyses for in vivo measurements of mGluR1 density (maximum number of binding sites, or Bmax) and ligand affinity (dissociation constant, or Kd) in brain regions, respectively. Results: The pretreatment of rats with unlabeled FITM (1 mg/kg) occupied an mGluR1 binding site of 18F-FITM by more than 99% and did not affect the input function. Hence, we used the tissue time–activity curve for receptor-blocked rats as representative of the nondisplaceable (free and nonspecific binding of radioligand) compartment. The BPND based on EA RBA showed a high correlation with the BPND based on invasive Logan plot graphical analysis in the thalamus, hippocampus, striatum, and cingulate cortex. The Kd (nM) and Bmax (pmol/mL) obtained by the Scatchard analyses with the multidose ligand assays were 2.1 and 36.3, respectively, for the thalamus; 2.1 and 27.5, respectively, for the hippocampus; 1.5 and 22.2, respectively, for the striatum; and 1.5 and 20.5, respectively, for the cingulate cortex with a high confidence. Conclusion: Our study is the first to our knowledge to measure the in vivo affinity (Kd and binding potential) of 18F-FITM and mGluR1 density (Bmax) with a high correlation to in vitro values in rat brain regions. This measurement using PET with 18F-FITM would be a useful index for research about mGluR1 functions in central nervous system disorders and development of new pharmaceuticals.