The potential value of multiplexed positron emission tomography (PET) tracers in mice with
turpentine-induced
inflammation was evaluated and compared with 2-[¹⁸F]fluoro-
2-deoxy-D-glucose ([¹⁸F]FDG) for
glucose metabolism imaging. These PET tracers included [¹⁸F]
fluoromethylcholine ([¹⁸F]FCH) for
choline metabolism imaging, (S-[¹¹C]methyl)-D-
cysteine ([¹¹C]DMCYS) for
amino acid metabolism imaging, [¹¹C]bis(
zinc(II)-dipicolylamine) ([¹¹C]DPA-Zn²⁺) for apoptosis imaging, 2-(4-N-[¹¹C]-methylaminophenyl)-6-hydroxybenzothiazole ([¹¹C]PIB) for β
amyloid binding imaging, and [¹⁸F]
fluoride (¹⁸F⁻) for bone metabolism imaging. In mice with
turpentine-induced
inflammation mice, the biodistribution of all the tracers mentioned above at 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60 min postinjection was determined. Also, the time-course curves of the tracer uptake ratios for inflammatory thigh muscle (IM) to normal uninflammatory thigh muscle (NM), IM to blood (BL), IM to brain (BR), and IM to liver (LI) were acquired, respectively. Moreover, PET imaging with the tracers within 60 min postinjection on a clinical PET/CT scanner was also conducted. [¹⁸F]FDG and ¹⁸F⁻ showed relatively higher uptake ratios for IM to NM, IM to BL, IM to BR, and IM to LI than [¹⁸F]FCH, [¹¹C]DPA-Zn²⁺, [¹¹C]DMCYS and [¹¹C]PIB, which were highly consistent with the results delineated in PET images. The results demonstrate that ¹⁸F⁻ seems to be a potential PET tracer for
inflammation imaging. [¹⁸F]FCH and [¹¹C]DMCYS, with lower accumulation in inflammatory tissue than [¹⁸F]FDG, are not good PET tracers for
inflammation imaging. As a promising inflammatory tracer, the chemical structure of [¹¹C]DPA-Zn²⁺ needs to be further optimized.