Abstract.
The aim of this study was the development of a modelling approach for the analysis of the systemic kinetics of the tracer nitrogen-13 ammonia administered for dynamic liver scanning. The radioactive half-life of this tracer is 9.8 min, which limits the time span in which data are available in a positron emission tomography experimental setting. A circulatory pharmacokinetic model was applied to the metabolism of ammonia in anaesthetised pigs, which incorporated data from serial measurements of [13N]ammonia and [13N]metabolite activity in arterial and portal venous blood together with blood flow rates through the portal vein and through the hepatic artery obtained over 20 min after intravenous injection of [13N]ammonia. Model analysis showed that up to 20 min after injection the time course of [13N]ammonia concentration in arterial blood is primarily determined by distribution kinetics (steady-state volume of distribution 1,856±531 ml kg–1). Simultaneous fitting of arterial ammonia and metabolite blood concentrations allowed for estimation of the hepatic [13N]ammonia clearance (10.25±1.84 ml min–1 kg–1), which accounted for the formation of the circulating metabolites.
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Weiss, M., Roelsgaard, K., Bender, D. et al. Determinants of [13N]ammonia kinetics in hepatic PET experiments: a minimal recirculatory model. Eur J Nucl Med 29, 1648–1656 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-002-0970-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-002-0970-7