Antagonist radiotracers have shown only a low sensitivity for detecting competition from high-efficacy agonists at opioid receptors (ORs) in vivo. We report that [(11)C]PEO binds with high affinity to mu and kappa-opioid receptors, is a full agonist, and concentrates in brain regions of rats with a high density of the mu-OR after intravenous injection. Blocking studies with mu and kappa-OR selective compounds demonstrated that the binding of [(11)C]PEO is saturable and selective to the mu-OR in rat brain.
The described ICR process is a simple and efficient alternative to classic radiotracer production systems and provides a comparatively cheap instrumental methodology for the repetitive production of [(18)F]FDG with remarkably high efficiency and high yield under fully automated conditions. Although the results concerning the levels of activity need to be confirmed after installation of the equipment in a suitable GMP hot-cell environment, we expect the instrumental design to allow up-scaling without major difficulties or fundamental restrictions. Furthermore, we are convinced that similar or nearly identical procedures, and thus instrumentation, will allow ICR of other (18)F-labelled radiopharmaceuticals.
2-[18F]Fluoroethyl azide ([18F]FEA) can readily be obtained by nucleophilic substitution of 2-azidoethyl-4-toluenesulfonate with [18F]fluoride (half-life 110 min), and has become widely used as a reagent for ‘click’ labeling of PET tracers. However, distillation of [18F]FEA is typically required, which is time-consuming and unpractical for routine applications. In addition, copper(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition of [18F]FEA with non-activated alkynes, and with substrates containing labile functional groups, can be challenging. Herein, we report a highly efficient and practical ligand-accelerated one-pot/two-step method for ‘click’ labeling of small molecule tracers with [18F]FEA. The method exploits the ability of the copper(I) ligand bathophenanthrolinedisulfonate to accelerate the rate of the cycloaddition reaction. As a result, alkynes can be added directly to the crude reaction mixture containing [18F]FEA, and as cyclisation occurs almost immediately at room temperature, the reaction is tolerant to labile functional groups. The method was demonstrated by reacting [18F]FEA with a series of alkyne-functionalized 6-halopurines to give the corresponding triazoles in 55–76% analytical radiochemical yield.
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