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PET Imaging of Human Brown Adipose Tissue with the TSPO Tracer [11C]PBR28

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Abstract

Purpose

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult humans has been recently rediscovered and intensively investigated as a new potential therapeutic target for obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, reliable assessment of BAT mass in vivo represents a considerable challenge. The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate for the first time that human BAT depots can be imaged with a translocator protein (TSPO)-specific positron emission tomography (PET) tracer [11C]PBR28 under thermoneutral conditions.

Procedures

In this retrospective analysis, we analyzed the images of three healthy volunteers who underwent PET/magnetic resonance (MR) imaging after injection of 14 m Ci of [11C]PBR28 at room temperature. Thirty-minute static PET images were reconstructed from the data obtained 60–90 min after the injection of the tracer.

Results

[11C]PBR28 uptake in the neck/supraclavicular regions was identified, which was parallel to the known distribution pattern of human BAT depots. These areas co-localized with the areas of hyperintensity and corresponded to fat on T1-weighted MR images. Standardized uptake value (SUV) was used to quantify [11C]PBR28 signal in BAT depots. The average (± SD) SUV(mean) and SUVmax for BAT depots was 2.13 (± 0.33) and 3.19 (± 0.34), respectively, while the average SUV(mean) for muscle and subcutaneous adipose tissue was 0.79 (± 0.1) and 0.18 (± 0.04), respectively.

Conclusions

In this brief article, we provide the first evidence suggesting that [11C]PBR28, a widely available TSPO-specific PET tracer, can be used for imaging human BAT mass under thermoneutral conditions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank China Scholarship Council of Chinese Ministry of Education for support (J.Y. and J.Y.). We also thank Alana W. Ross, B.S. for proofreading this manuscript.

Funding

This work was partially supported by NIH/NIDDK R56DK108813 award (C.R.).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Chongzhao Ran and Daniel S. Albrecht contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Athinoula. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02129, USA

    Chongzhao Ran, Jing Yang, Jian Yang & Anna Moore

  2. Athinoula. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02129, USA

    Daniel S. Albrecht & Marco L. Loggia

  3. Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging & Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Daniel S. Albrecht

  4. Division of Musculoskeletal Imaging and Intervention, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Miriam A. Bredella

  5. Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Steven H. Liang

  6. Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Aaron M. Cypess

  7. Neurological Clinical Research Institute (NCRI), Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Nazem Atassi

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  1. Chongzhao Ran
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Correspondence to Chongzhao Ran.

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Ran, C., Albrecht, D.S., Bredella, M.A. et al. PET Imaging of Human Brown Adipose Tissue with the TSPO Tracer [11C]PBR28. Mol Imaging Biol 20, 188–193 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-017-1129-z

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