Preloading with L-BPA, L-tyrosine and L-DOPA enhances the uptake of [18F]FBPA in human and mouse tumour cell lines

Aim of this study was to investigate if cellular [18F]FBPA uptake can be increased upon preloading with amino acids. [18F]FBPA uptake was assessed in HuH-7, CaCo-2 and B16-F1 cells pretreated with different concentrations or incubation times of L-BPA, L-tyrosine or L-DOPA. Without preloading, highest uptake of [18F]FBPA was observed in B16-F1 cells, followed by CaCo-2 cells and HuH-7 cells. In all cell lines higher [18F]FBPA accumulation (up to 1.65-fold) was obtained with increasing L-BPA, L-DOPA and L-tyrosine concentrations.