No abstract

We evaluated the efficacy of 2-[5-(4-[18F]fluoroethoxy-2-oxo-1,3-benzoxazol-3(2H)-yl)-N-methyl-N-phenylacetamide] ([18F]FEBMP) for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of translocator protein (18 kDa, TSPO). Dissection was used to determine the distribution of [18F]FEBMP in mice, while small-animal PET and metabolite analysis were used for a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia. [18F]FEBMP showed high radioactivity uptake in mouse peripheral organs enriched with TSPO, and relatively high initial brain uptake (2.67 ± 0.12% ID/g). PET imaging revealed an increased accumulation of radioactivity in the infarcted striatum, with a maximum ratio of 3.20 ± 0.12, compared to non-injured striatum. Displacement with specific TSPO ligands lowered the accumulation levels in infarcts to those on the contralateral side. This suggests that the increased accumulation reflected TPSO-specific binding of [18F]FEBMP in vivo. Using a simplified reference tissue model, the binding potential on the infarcted area was 2.72 ± 0.27. Metabolite analysis in brain tissues showed that 83.2 ± 7.4% and 76.4 ± 2.1% of radioactivity was from intact [18F]FEBMP at 30 and 60 min, respectively, and that this ratio was higher than in plasma (8.6 ± 1.9% and 3.9 ± 1.1%, respectively). In vitro autoradiography on postmortem human brains showed that TSPO rs6971 polymorphism did not affect binding sites for [18F]FEBMP. These findings suggest that [18F]FEBMP is a promising new tool for visualization of neuroinflammation.

and PET studies were performed in an ischemic rat model. In vitro autoradiography indicated significantly increased binding on the ipsilateral side compared with that on the contralateral side of ischemic rat brains. This result was supported firmly by the contrast of radioactivity between the ipsilateral and contralateral sides in PET images. Displacement experiments with unlabelled MBMP or PK11195 minimized the difference in uptake between the two sides. In summary, [ 11 C]MBMP is a potential PET imaging agent for TSPO and, consequently, for the up-regulation of microglia during neuroinflammation.

The visualization of the activated microglia/TSPO is one of the main aspects of neuroimaging. Here we describe two new (18)F-labelled molecules, 2-[5-(4-[(18)F]fluoroethoxyphenyl)- ([(18)F]2) and 2-[5-(4-[(18)F]fluoropropyloxyphenyl)- ([(18)F]3) -2-oxo-1,3-benzoxazol-3(2H)-yl]-N-methyl-N-phenylacetamide as novel PET ligands for imaging the translocator protein (18 kDa, TSPO) in the brain. The three-D pharmacophore evaluation and docking studies suggested their high affinity for the TSPO and in vitro binding assays of the TSPO showed binding affinities 6.6 ± 0.7 nM and 16.7 ± 2.5 nM for 2 and 3, respectively. The radiochemical yields for [(18)F]2 and [(18)F]3 were found to be 22 ± 4% (n = 8) and 5 ± 2% (n = 5), respectively at EOB. The radiochemical purity for both was found ≥98% and the specific activity was in the range of 98-364 GBq μmol(-1) at EOS. In vitro autoradiography with an ischemic rat brain showed significantly increased binding on the ipsilateral side compared to the contralateral side. The specificity of [(18)F]2 and [(18)F]3 for binding TSPO was confirmed using the TSPO ligands PK11195 and MBMP. The biodistribution patterns of both PET ligands were evaluated in normal mice by 1 h dynamic PET imaging. In the brain, regional radioactivity reached the maximum very rapidly within 0-4 min for both ligands, similar to (R)[(11)C]PK11195. The metabolite study of [(18)F]2 also favoured a more favourable profile for quantification in comparison to (R)[(11)C]PK11195. In summary, these data indicated that [(18)F]2 and [(18)F]3 have good potential to work as PET ligands, therefore there are merits to use these radioligands for the in vivo evaluation in animal models to see their efficacy in the living brain.

A newly designed benzothiazolo-quinazolone series was synthesized by an aromatic amine and potassium thiocyanate in the presence of bromine in glacial acetic acid, and the final product was obtained by subsequent reaction with 5-arylamido/imidoalkyl-2-chlorobenzoic acid in the presence of potassium carbonate and further cyclization with sulphuric acid. A preliminary radiolabelling study with technetium shows a promising potential for further in vivo evaluation. Anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-tumor activities were evaluated for biological properties. Lead compounds are able to block epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in human breast adenocarcinoma cell line, MCF-7.