Final Activity Report Summary - ZnMolimage (Molecular imaging of zinc in the brain)
The project concentrated on dynamic imaging of small animals and development of new type of positron emission tomography (PET) and imaging methods.
We designed a protocol of dynamic imaging, i.e. a sequence of short duration frames showing evolution of radioactive tracer distribution like a video film, using short axial field of view scanner. The frames of the heart and brain were taken alternately and were then processed to extract the concentration of the tracer in blood plasma from the image of the left heart ventricle. The blood plasma concentration of the tracer was the input to kinetic modelling of the tracer concentration in the brain. The protocol was applied to glucose consumption measurement in various nuclei in the brain, using a glucose radioactive fluoro(18F)deoxyglucose (18-FDG) analogue for the rats over-expressing inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER) in neurons in search of the phenotype. This immediate early gene was involved in neuronal plasticity and was found as regulator of susceptibility to epilepsy.
After brain stroke, some neurons die within the first few hours, whereas others are stressed by the event, but can be saved with proper pharmacological treatment, therefore it is important to delineate them as soon as possible. This area is called penumbra. We found that 18-FDG PET and corresponding magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain in the rat model of the disease might reveal the penumbra area. The area where glucose consumption was reduced by 50 % or more and no visible damage could be found in MRI was the penumbra area.
Finally, during the project, a prototype scanner from Oncovision, Spain was developed, thoroughly tested and matured.
We designed a protocol of dynamic imaging, i.e. a sequence of short duration frames showing evolution of radioactive tracer distribution like a video film, using short axial field of view scanner. The frames of the heart and brain were taken alternately and were then processed to extract the concentration of the tracer in blood plasma from the image of the left heart ventricle. The blood plasma concentration of the tracer was the input to kinetic modelling of the tracer concentration in the brain. The protocol was applied to glucose consumption measurement in various nuclei in the brain, using a glucose radioactive fluoro(18F)deoxyglucose (18-FDG) analogue for the rats over-expressing inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER) in neurons in search of the phenotype. This immediate early gene was involved in neuronal plasticity and was found as regulator of susceptibility to epilepsy.
After brain stroke, some neurons die within the first few hours, whereas others are stressed by the event, but can be saved with proper pharmacological treatment, therefore it is important to delineate them as soon as possible. This area is called penumbra. We found that 18-FDG PET and corresponding magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain in the rat model of the disease might reveal the penumbra area. The area where glucose consumption was reduced by 50 % or more and no visible damage could be found in MRI was the penumbra area.
Finally, during the project, a prototype scanner from Oncovision, Spain was developed, thoroughly tested and matured.