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Statistical parametric maps of 18F-FDG PET and 3-D autoradiography in the rat brain: a cross-validation study

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Abstract

Purpose

Although specific positron emission tomography (PET) scanners have been developed for small animals, spatial resolution remains one of the most critical technical limitations, particularly in the evaluation of the rodent brain. The purpose of the present study was to examine the reliability of voxel-based statistical analysis (Statistical Parametric Mapping, SPM) applied to 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET images of the rat brain, acquired on a small animal PET not specifically designed for rodents. The gold standard for the validation of the PET results was the autoradiography of the same animals acquired under the same physiological conditions, reconstructed as a 3-D volume and analysed using SPM.

Methods

Eleven rats were studied under two different conditions: conscious or under inhalatory anaesthesia during 18F-FDG uptake. All animals were studied in vivo under both conditions in a dedicated small animal Philips MOSAIC PET scanner and magnetic resonance images were obtained for subsequent spatial processing. Then, rats were randomly assigned to a conscious or anaesthetized group for postmortem autoradiography, and slices from each animal were aligned and stacked to create a 3-D autoradiographic volume. Finally, differences in 18F-FDG uptake between conscious and anaesthetized states were assessed from PET and autoradiography data by SPM analysis and results were compared.

Results

SPM results of PET and 3-D autoradiography are in good agreement and led to the detection of consistent cortical differences between the conscious and anaesthetized groups, particularly in the bilateral somatosensory cortices. However, SPM analysis of 3-D autoradiography also highlighted differences in the thalamus that were not detected with PET.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that any difference detected with SPM analysis of MOSAIC PET images of rat brain is detected also by the gold standard autoradiographic technique, confirming that this methodology provides reliable results, although partial volume effects might make it difficult to detect slight differences in small regions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Margarita Ecay and Izaskun Bilbao for their excellent work in the animal preparation and acquisition of the PET studies, and also the cyclotron staff of the Nuclear Medicine Department of Clínica Universidad de Navarra for the radiotracer production.

The authors are also grateful to Ana Vegas and Rubén Fernández de la Rosa, from the FINNOVA program of the Community of Madrid for their assistance in the performance of the autoradiographic images, the Cyclotron Unit and Instituto Tecnológico PET (ITP).

This research was supported in part by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación grants SAF 2009–09020 and CENIT MIND. CJ is supported by the ALBAN Programme, the European Union Programme of High Level Scholarships for Latin America, scholarship No.E07D403507CL.

Dr. Michael Paterson kindly corrected and edited the article.

Conflicts of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nuclear Medicine Department, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Av. Pío XII 36, 31008, Pamplona, Spain

    Elena Prieto, Josep M. Martí-Climent & Iván Peñuelas

  2. Small Animal Imaging Research Unit, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) and Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    María Collantes, Francisco Molinet & Iván Peñuelas

  3. Brain Mapping Unit, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Mercedes Delgado, Luis García-García & Miguel A. Pozo

  4. Movement Disorders Group, Neurosciences Division, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), Pamplona, Spain

    Carlos Juri, Belén Gago & José A. Obeso

  5. Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    Carlos Juri & José A. Obeso

  6. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Pamplona, Spain

    Carlos Juri, Belén Gago & José A. Obeso

  7. Department of Neurology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Carlos Juri

  8. MRI Research Center, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    María E. Fernández-Valle

Authors
  1. Elena Prieto
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Correspondence to Iván Peñuelas.

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Prieto, E., Collantes, M., Delgado, M. et al. Statistical parametric maps of 18F-FDG PET and 3-D autoradiography in the rat brain: a cross-validation study. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 38, 2228–2237 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-011-1905-y

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