Pain and Neuroinflammation Imaging Lab

PET Imaging of Human Brown Adipose Tissue with the TSPO Tracer [C]PBR28

Citation:

Ran, C., et al., 2018. PET Imaging of Human Brown Adipose Tissue with the TSPO Tracer [C]PBR28. Mol Imaging Biol , 20 (2) , pp. 188-193.

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10.1007_s11307-017-1129-z.pdf1.02 MB

Date Published:

2018 04

Abstract:

PURPOSE: Brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult humans has been recently rediscovered and intensively investigated as a new potential therapeutic target for obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, reliable assessment of BAT mass in vivo represents a considerable challenge. The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate for the first time that human BAT depots can be imaged with a translocator protein (TSPO)-specific positron emission tomography (PET) tracer [11C]PBR28 under thermoneutral conditions. PROCEDURES: In this retrospective analysis, we analyzed the images of three healthy volunteers who underwent PET/magnetic resonance (MR) imaging after injection of 14 m Ci of [11C]PBR28 at room temperature. Thirty-minute static PET images were reconstructed from the data obtained 60-90 min after the injection of the tracer. RESULTS: [11C]PBR28 uptake in the neck/supraclavicular regions was identified, which was parallel to the known distribution pattern of human BAT depots. These areas co-localized with the areas of hyperintensity and corresponded to fat on T1-weighted MR images. Standardized uptake value (SUV) was used to quantify [11C]PBR28 signal in BAT depots. The average (± SD) SUV(mean) and SUVmax for BAT depots was 2.13 (± 0.33) and 3.19 (± 0.34), respectively, while the average SUV(mean) for muscle and subcutaneous adipose tissue was 0.79 (± 0.1) and 0.18 (± 0.04), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In this brief article, we provide the first evidence suggesting that [11C]PBR28, a widely available TSPO-specific PET tracer, can be used for imaging human BAT mass under thermoneutral conditions.

Last updated on 05/03/2022