In Vivo Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Boron Compounds Using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging

Abstract

The success of Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) will, in large degree, depend upon knowing the kinetics of a boron compound and treating when the optimum conditions have been reached. Before a potential boron compound is administered to a human patient for treatment, the pharmacokinetics of the boron compound should be determined first with an animal model and then with human studies. Until now, the accepted methods of conducting pharmacokinetic studies have all been invasive. Magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy and imaging is a new technology that has the potential of measuring the concentration of selected nuclei in tissue noninvasively. MR is presently being used to measure in-vivo concentration of chemical compounds containing ³¹P, ¹⁹F, and ²³Na.^(1,2) The MR techniques used to measure these compounds have been modified for boron, but have not been used in conducting time studies.^(3–5) The in-vivo MR method proposed here provides a way to quantitate boron in tissue as a function of time and location.