Noninvasive Measurement of Cerebral Blood Flow and Glucose Metabolic Rate in the Rat with High-Resolution Animal Positron Emission Tomography (PET) : A Novel in Vivo Approach for Assessing Drug Action in the Brains of Small Animals

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The cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglc) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) in rats were estimated noninvasively with a high-resolution animal positron emission tomography (PET) system that we recently developed. Quantifications of CMRglc and CBF were attempted with radiotracers, ¹⁸F-2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose and ¹⁵O-water, respectively. From the data obtained with PET, the CMRglc and CBF values under pretreatment conditions were respectively calculated as 51±14μmol/min/100g and 61±7ml/min/100g under pentobarbital-anesthesia. These values were in close agreement with published data obtained with the autoradiographic technique. Moreover, and increase of 69% (mean) in CBF was detected after i.v. acetazolamide administration. The results indicate that this high-resolution animal PET scanner holds great potential for the assessment of drug-related metabolic and circulatory effects in intact and experimental animals.