KEY WORDS: Myocardial metabolism, positron emission tomography, labelled fatty acids. There
Carbon-11 ( ll C)
is experimental evidence that the rate of clearance of " C-palmitate activity from the myocardium is related to oxidative fatty acid metabolism. In dogs, a restriction of the oxygen supply to the myocardium results in a decrease in the rate of ll C-clearance independently of whether myocardial perfusion is concomitantly reduced or not.Similarities in myocardial uptake and clearance exist between iodine-123 ( l2i I)-heptadecanoic acid and "Cpalmitate. However, interpretation of the kinetics of the radio-iodinated fatty acid analogue has to take into account the different intracellular fate of the iodine label compared with the fatty acid structure.