Reproducibility of intraperitoneal 2-deoxy-2-[18F]-fluoro-d-glucose cerebral uptake in rodents through time

IntroductionOne strength of small animal imaging is the ability to obtain longitudinal measurements within the same animal, effectively reducing the number of animals needed and increasing statistical power. However, the variability of within-rodent brain glucose uptake after an intraperitoneal injection across an extended time has not been measured.MethodsSmall animal imaging with 2-deoxy-2-[18F]-fluoro-d-glucose (18FDG) was used to determine the variability of a 50-min brain 18FDG uptake following an intraperitoneal injection over time in awake male and female Sprague–Dawley rodents.ResultsAfter determining the variability of an intraperitoneal injection in the awake rat, we found that normalization of brain 18FDG uptake for (1) injected dose and body weight or (2) body weight, plasma glucose concentration and injected dose resulted in a coefficient of variation (CV) of 15%. However, if we normalized regional uptake to whole brain to compare relative regional changes, the CV was less than 5%. Normalized cerebral 18FDG uptake values were reproducible for a 2-week period in young adult animals. After 1 year, both male and female animals had reduced whole-brain uptake, as well as reduced regional hippocampal and striatal 18FDG uptake.ConclusionOverall, our results were similar to findings in previous rodent and human clinical populations; thus, using a high throughput study with intraperitoneal 18FDG is a promising preclinical model for clinical populations. This is particularly relevant for measuring changes in brain function after experimental manipulation, such as long-term pharmacological administration.