Background:Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) positron emission tomography (PET) is used to visualize in vivo amyloid plaques in the brain. Frequently the PiB examinations are complemented with a fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET scan to further assess neurodegeneration.Objective:Our goal is to identify alternative correlates of FDG images by assessing which kinetic methods originate PiB derived relative delivery ratio (R1) images that can be correlated with the FDG images, and to compare them with PiB perfusion (pPiB) images obtained from the early-phase of PiB acquisition.Methods:We selected 52 patients with cognitive impairment who underwent a dynamic PiB and FDG acquisitions. To compute the R1 images, two simplified reference tissue models (SRTM and SRTM2) and two multi-linear reference tissue models (MRTM and MRTM2) were used. The pPiB images were obtained in two different time intervals.Results:All six types of images were of good quality and highly correlated with the FDG images (mean voxelwise within-subjects r > 0.92). The higher correlation was found for FDG-R1(MRTM). Regarding the voxelwise regional correlation, the higher mean all brain correlations was r = 0.825 for FDG-R1(MRTM) and statistically significant in the whole brain analysis.Conclusion:All R1 and pPiB images here tested have potential to assess the metabolic impact of neurodegeneration almost as reliably as the FDG images. However, this is not enough to validate these images for a single-subject analysis compared with the FDG image, and thus they cannot yet be used clinically to replace the FDG image before such evaluation.

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Introduction: Multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the major problems of chemotherapy. Overexpression of efflux pumps, such as P-glycoprotein (Pgp), multiple resistance-related protein 1 (MRP-1) and lung resistance protein (LRP) can lead to MDR. Verapamil and L-buthionine-sulfoximine (BSO) are two modulators of these proteins. This study aims to compare ^99mTc-Sestamibi transport kinetics in human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines, in the presence and absence of the MDR modulators verapamil and BSO. Material and Methods: MDR proteins expression was evaluated in sensitive (WiDr) and resistant (LS1034) human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines. Intracellular and plasma membrane Pgp and MRP1, and LRP expression was analyzed by flow-cytometry and western blot. Cellular transport kinetics was assessed using ^99mTc-Sestamibi. MDR modulation was evaluated though retention studies in resistant cells after incubation with the modulators. Results: Pgp expression was significantly higher (p≤0.001) in resistant cells. These results were confirmed by western blot analysis. ^99mTc-Sestamibi uptake and retention percentage were significantly higher (p<0.001 and p<0.01, respectively) in the sensitive cells for all time-points considered. In resistant cells there were no significant differences when we consider the curves as a whole, considering cells incubated versus non-incubated with MDR modulators. However, for the first minutes after incubation with ^99mTc-Sestamibi, there were differences among the MDR modulators used (p<0.05). Conclusions: In vitro kinetic studies using ^99mTc-Sestamibi could indicate MDR phenotype in colorectal adenocarcinoma cells. As the modulators used showed a reversion of the retention profile only for the first minutes, their administration should occur immediately before the administration of cytotoxic drugs

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is one of the most powerful analytical techniques, being frequently used to derive physical, chemical, electronic, and structural information about molecules. Considering its potentialities and its evolution as cell/tissue response predictor, it can be used to detect changes in the tumor pathophysiology before, during, and after treatment. Of particular relevance to this analysis, due to its higher sensitivity, is proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) either applied directly in vivo or by using tumor biopsies and high-rotation magic angle spinning (HRMAS). Several metabolites have been quantified in several tumors, including creatine and phosphocreatine, choline, lactate and myoinositol, and used for distinguishing different cancer types. Several advantages characterize this technique including swiftness and ability to support the characterization of tumoral lesions on the basis of their biochemical composition, which may provide additional diagnostic and prognostic information as an adjunct to routine histological assessment. Many tumors have already been studied by 1H-MRS, and there is growing interest in studying others in order to establish extended metabolite databases which could help in their identification and characterization

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is one of the most powerful analytical techniques, being frequently used to derive physical, chemical, electronic, and structural information about molecules. Considering its potentialities and its evolution as cell/tissue response predictor, it can be used to detect changes in the tumor pathophysiology before, during, and after treatment. Of particular relevance to this analysis, due to its higher sensitivity, is proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS) either applied directly in vivo or by using tumor biopsies and high-rotation magic angle spinning (HRMAS). Several metabolites have been quantified in several tumors, including creatine and phosphocreatine, choline, lactate and myoinositol, and used for distinguishing different cancer types. Several advantages characterize this technique including swiftness and ability to support the characterization of tumoral lesions on the basis of their biochemical composition, which may provide additional diagnostic and prognostic information as an adjunct to routine histological assessment. Many tumors have already been studied by 1 H-MRS, and there is growing interest in studying others in order to establish extended metabolite databases which could help in their identification and characterization.