PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Stergiani Agorastos AU - Christina Veith AU - Sandra Scherrer AU - Amanda Talan AU - Joseph Carrion AU - Alexandra Aarons AU - David Eidelberg AU - Jonathan Brodie AU - Stephen Dewey AU - Wynne Schiffer TI - Vigabatrin (GVG) blocks optiate induced decreases in FDG uptake DP - 2011 May 01 TA - Journal of Nuclear Medicine PG - 1188--1188 VI - 52 IP - supplement 1 4099 - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/52/supplement_1/1188.short 4100 - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/52/supplement_1/1188.full SO - J Nucl Med2011 May 01; 52 AB - 1188 Objectives Opiate abuse is on the rise and the US alone has had a significant increase in first time users from 2008. Therefore, in an ongoing effort to develop vigabatrin (GVG) for the treatment of substance abuse, we examined its effects on morphine-induced changes in FDG uptake in adult animals using small animal PET. Methods Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=8/group) were studied using an Inveon PET. All animals received baseline FDG scans. Group 1 animals received morphine treatment for 14 days beginning at a dose of 10 mg/kg (ip) and ending at a dose of 42.5 mg/kg (doses were escalated by 2.5 mg/kg/day). 24 hours following their last dose, animals received another FDG scan. Animals received FDG scans at 7, 14, and 28 days post treatment. Group 2 animals received the identical morphine regimen as Group 1 animals except they also received daily injections of vigabatrin (100 mg/kg). 24 hours following their last dose, animals received another FDG scan followed by subsequent FDG scans at 7, 14, and 28 days post treatment. Results A marked decrease in FDG uptake was noted in Group 1 animals in both cortical and subcortical structures. These decreases returned to normal values by 28 days post treatment. Group 2 animals, however, failed to show any significant decreases in FDG uptake in either cortical or subcortical structures throughout the scanning period of 28 days. Conclusions Vigabatrin inhibits morphine-induced decreases in FDG uptake in the brain. These data support the development of vigabatrin for the treatment of opiate dependence and withdrawal in adult populations. Perhaps most importantly, these data validate the use of functional imaging with FDG in behaving animals to understand the neural circuits that drive behavior, and provide a new platform to guide CNS drug development. Research Support Supported by K02 DA22346 and R01 DA15041 to SLD and PR02629 and DA02529 to WKS