Assessment of brain beta-amyloid deposition in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease with PET imaging agents 18F-flutemetamol and 18F-florbetaben

• Main Authors: Hye Joo Son, Young Jin Jeong, Hyun Jin Yoon, Sang Yoon Lee, Go-Eun Choi, Ji-Ae Park, Min Hwan Kim, Kyo Chul Lee, Yong Jin Lee, Mun Ki Kim, Kook Cho, Do-Young Kang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2018-07-01
• Series: BMC Neuroscience
• Subjects: PET/CT imaging; Alzheimer’s disease; transgenic mouse model; 18F-flutemetamol; 18F-florbetaben
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12868-018-0447-7

Abstract Background Although amyloid beta (Aβ) imaging is widely used for diagnosing and monitoring Alzheimer’s disease in clinical fields, paralleling comparison between 18F-flutemetamol and 18F-florbetaben was rarely attempted in AD mouse model. We performed a comparison of Aβ PET images between 18F-flutemetamol and 18F-florbetaben in a recently developed APPswe mouse model, C57BL/6-Tg (NSE-hAPPsw) Korl. Results After an injection (0.23 mCi) of 18F-flutemetamol and 18F-florbetaben at a time interval of 2–3 days, we compared group difference of SUVR and kinetic parameters between the AD (n = 7) and control (n = 7) mice, as well as between 18F-flutemetamol and 18F-florbetaben image. In addition, bio-distribution and histopathology were conducted. With visual image and VOI-based SUVR analysis, the AD group presented more prominent uptake than did the control group in both the 18F-florbetaben and 18F-flutemetamol images. With kinetic analysis, the 18F-florbetaben images showed differences in K1 and k4 between the AD and control groups, although 18F-flutemetamol images did not show significant difference. 18F-florbetaben images showed more prominent cortical uptake and matched well to the thioflavin S staining images than did the 18F-flutemetamol image. In contrast, 18F-flutemetamol images presented higher K1, k4, K1/k2 values than those of 18F-florbetaben images. Also, 18F-flutemetamol images presented prominent uptake in the bowel and bladder, consistent with higher bio-distribution in kidney, lung, blood and heart. Conclusions Compared with 18F-flutemetamol images, 18F-florbetaben images showed prominent visual uptake intensity, SUVR, and higher correlations with the pathology. In contrast, 18F-flutemetamol was more actively metabolized than was 18F-florbetaben (Son et al. in J Nucl Med 58(Suppl 1):S278, 2017].