An international group of experts in pharmacokinetic modeling recommends a consensus nomenclature to describe in vivo molecular imaging of reversibly binding radioligands.

Many theories of cognitive aging are based on evidence that dopamine (DA) declines with age. Here we performed a systematic meta-analysis of cross-sectional PET and SPECT studies on the average effects of age on distinct DA targets (receptors, transporters, or relevant enzymes) in healthy adults (N=95 studies including 2,611 subjects). Results revealed significant moderate to large, negative effects of age on DA transporters and receptors. Age had a significantly larger effect on D1- than D2-like receptors. In contrast, there was no significant effect of age on DA synthesis capacity. The average age reductions across the DA system were 3.7–14.0% per decade. A meta-regression found only DA target as a significant moderator of the age effect. This study precisely quantifies prior claims of reduced DA functionality with age. It also identifies presynaptic mechanisms (spared synthesis capacity and reduced DA transporters) that may partially account for previously unexplained phenomena whereby older adults appear to use dopaminergic resources effectively. Recommendations for future studies including minimum required samples sizes are provided.

Microglia play an essential role in many brain diseases. Microglia are activated by local tissue damage or inflammation, but systemic inflammation can also activate microglia. An important clinical question is whether the effects of systemic inflammation on microglia mediates the deleterious effects of systemic inflammation in diseases such as Alzheimer's dementia, multiple sclerosis, and stroke. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging with ligands that bind to Translocator Protein (TSPO) can be used to detect activated microglia. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the effect of systemic inflammation on microglia could be measured with PET imaging in nonhuman primates, using the TSPO ligand [11C]PBR28. Methods Six female baboons (Papio anubis) were scanned before and at 1 h and/or 4h and/or 22h after intravenous administration of E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 0.1 mg/kg), which induces systemic inflammation. Regional time-activity data from regions of interest (ROIs) were fitted to the two-tissue compartmental model, using the metabolite-corrected arterial plasma curve as input function. Total volume of distribution (VT) of [11C]PBR28 was used as a measure of total ligand binding. The primary outcome was change in VT from baseline. Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) were used to assess correlations between systemic inflammation and microglial activation. In one baboon, immunohistochemistry was used to identify cells expressing TSPO. Results LPS administration increased [11C]PBR28 binding (F(3,6)=5.1, p=.043) with a 29±16 % increase at 1h (n = 4) and a 62±34% increase at 4h (n = 3) post-LPS. There was a positive correlation between serum IL-1β and IL-6 levels and the increase in [11C]PBR28 binding. TSPO immunoreactivity occurred almost exclusively in microglia and rarely in astrocytes. Conclusion In the nonhuman-primate brain, LPS-induced systemic inflammation produces a robust increase in the level of TSPO that is readily detected with [11C]PBR28 PET. The effect of LPS on [11C]PBR28 binding is likely mediated by inflammatory cytokines. Activation of microglia may be a mechanism through which systemic inflammatory processes influence the course of diseases such as Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, and possibly depression.

Our goal in this paper is the estimation of kinetic model parameters for each voxel corresponding to a dense three-dimensional (3-D) positron emission tomography (PET) image. Typically, the activity images are first reconstructed from PET sinogram frames at each measurement time, and then the kinetic parameters are estimated by fitting a model to the reconstructed time-activity response of each voxel. However, this "indirect" approach to kinetic parameter estimation tends to reduce signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) because of the requirement that the sinogram data be divided into individual time frames. In 1985, Carson and Lange proposed, but did not implement, a method based on the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for direct parametric reconstruction. The approach is "direct" because it estimates the optimal kinetic parameters directly from the sinogram data, without an intermediate reconstruction step. However, direct voxel-wise parametric reconstruction remained a challenge due to the unsolved complexities of inversion and spatial regularization. In this paper, we demonstrate and evaluate a new and efficient method for direct voxel-wise reconstruction of kinetic parameter images using all frames of the PET data. The direct parametric image reconstruction is formulated in a Bayesian framework, and uses the parametric iterative coordinate descent (PICD) algorithm to solve the resulting optimization problem. The PICD algorithm is computationally efficient and is implemented with spatial regularization in the domain of the physiologically relevant parameters. Our experimental simulations of a rat head imaged in a working small animal scanner indicate that direct parametric reconstruction can substantially reduce root-mean-squared error (RMSE) in the estimation of kinetic parameters, as compared to indirect methods, without appreciably increasing computation.

Cigarette smoking is a major public health danger. Women and men smoke for different reasons and cessation treatments, such as the nicotine patch, are preferentially beneficial to men. The biological substrates of these sex differences are unknown. Earlier PET studies reported conflicting findings but were each hampered by experimental and/or analytical limitations. Our new image analysis technique, lp-ntPET (Normandin et al., 2012; Morris et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2014), has been optimized for capturing brief (lasting only minutes) and highly localized dopaminergic events in dynamic PET data. We coupled our analysis technique with high-resolution brain scanning and high-frequency motion correction to create the optimal experiment for capturing and characterizing the effects of smoking on the mesolimbic dopamine system in humans. Our main finding is that male smokers smoking in the PET scanner activate dopamine in the right ventral striatum during smoking but female smokers do not. This finding-men activating more ventrally than women-is consistent with the established notion that men smoke for the reinforcing drug effect of cigarettes whereas women smoke for other reasons, such as mood regulation and cue reactivity. lp-ntPET analysis produces a novel multidimensional endpoint: voxel-level temporal patterns of neurotransmitter release ("DA movies") in individual subjects. By examining these endpoints quantitatively, we demonstrate that the timing of dopaminergic responses to cigarette smoking differs between men and women. Men respond consistently and rapidly in the ventral striatum whereas women respond faster in a discrete subregion of the dorsal putamen.

The parametric ntPET model (p-ntPET) estimates the kinetics of neurotransmitter release from dynamic PET data with receptor-ligand radiotracers. Here we introduce a linearization (lp-ntPET) that is computationally efficient and can be applied to single-scan data. lp-ntPET employs a non-invasive reference region input function and extends the LSRRM of Alpert et al. (2003) using basis functions to characterize the time course of neurotransmitter activation. In simulation studies, the temporal precision of neurotransmitter profiles estimated by lp-ntPET was similar to that of p-ntPET (standard deviation ~3 min for responses early in the scan) while computation time was reduced by several orders of magnitude. Violations of model assumptions such as activation-induced changes in regional blood flow or specific binding in the reference tissue have negligible effects on lp-ntPET performance. Application of the lp-ntPET method is demonstrated on [11C]raclopride data acquired in rats receiving methamphetamine, which yielded estimated response functions that were in good agreement with simultaneous microdialysis measurements of extracellular dopamine concentration. These results demonstrate that lp-ntPET is a computationally efficient, linear variant of ntPET that can be applied to PET data from single or multiple scan designs to estimate the time course of neurotransmitter activation.

PF-06372865 has a unique clinical pharmacology profile and a highly predictive translational data package from preclinical species to the clinical setting.

Kappa opioid receptors (KOR) are believed to be involved in the pathophysiology of depression, anxiety disorders, drug abuse and alcoholism. To date, only one tracer, the kappa opioid receptor agonist [11C]GR103545, has been reported to be able to image KOR in primates. The goal of the present study was to synthesize the selective KOR antagonist [11C]LY2795050 and evaluate its potential as a PET tracer to image KOR in vivo. METHODS In vitro binding affinity of LY2795050 was measured in radioligand competition binding assays. Ex vivo experiments were conducted using microdosing of the unlabelled ligand in Sprague-Dawley rats, as well as wild-type and KOR knock-out mice, to assess the ligand’s potential as a tracer candidate. Imaging experiments with [11C]LY2795050 in monkeys were carried out on the Focus-220 PET scanner with arterial blood input function measurement. Binding parameters were determined with kinetic modeling analysis. RESULTS LY2795050 displays full antagonist activity and high binding affinity and selectivity for KOR. Microdosing studies in rodents and ex vivo analysis of tissue concentrations with LC/MS/MS identified LY2795050 as an appropriate tracer candidate able to provide specific binding signals in vivo. [11C]LY2795050 was prepared in an average yield of 12% and >99% radiochemical purity. In rhesus monkeys, [11C]LY2795050 displayed a moderate rate of peripheral metabolism, with ∼40% of parent compound remaining at 30 min postinjection. In the brain, [11C]LY2795050 displayed fast uptake kinetics (regional activity peak times < 20 min) and an uptake pattern consistent with the distribution of KOR in primates. Pretreatment with naloxone (1 mg/kg, iv) resulted in a uniform distribution of radioactivity. Further, specific binding of [11C]LY2795050 was reduced by the selective KOR antagonist LY2456302 in a dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSION [11C]LY2795050 displayed favorable pharmacokinetic properties and binding profiles in vivo, and therefore is a suitable ligand for imaging the KOR in primates. This newly developed KOR antagonist tracer has since been advanced to PET imaging of KOR in humans and constitutes the first successful KOR antagonist radiotracer.