Supercritical CO2 fluid radiochromatography system used to purify [11C]toluene for PET

Synthesis and evaluation of inhaled [11C]butane and intravenously injected [11C]acetone as potential radiotracers for studying inhalant abuse

The phenomenon of inhalant abuse is a growing problem in the US and many countries around the world. Yet, relatively little is known about the pharmacokinetic properties of inhalants that underlie their abuse potential. While the synthesis of 11C-labeled toluene, acetone and butane has been proposed in the literature, none of these compounds has been developed as radiotracers for PET studies. In the present report we extend our previous studies with [11C]toluene to include [11C]acetone and [11C]butane with the goal of comparing the pharmacokinetic profiles of these three volatile abused substances. Both [11C]toluene and [11C]acetone were administered intravenously and [11C]butane was administered via inhalation to anesthesized baboons. Rapid and efficient uptake of radiolabeled toluene and acetone into the brain was followed by fast clearance in the case of toluene and slower kinetics in the case of acetone. [11C]Butane was detected in the blood and brain following inhalation, but the levels of radioactivity in both tissues dropped to half of the maximal values over the period of less than a minute. To our knowledge, this is the first reported study of the in vivo brain pharmacokinetics of labeled acetone and butane in nonhuman primates. These data provide insight into the pharmacokinetic features possibly associated with the abuse liability of toluene, acetone and butane.

Effect of vehicle on brain uptake of [11C]toluene

With the goal of investigating the pharmacokinetics of the abused solvent, toluene we have adapted the rapid coupling of methyl iodide with tributylphenylstannane mediated by palladium(0) complex to the synthesis of no-carrier-added [11C]toluene starting with 11CH(3)I. Two methods for purification and formulation of the tracer were developed. The first one yielded [11C]toluene dissolved in dimethylacetamide/saline solution, for the second one we adapted supercritical fluid technology where the tracer was purified using and conventional C(18) HPLC column and pure supercritical CO(2) fluid as a mobile phase operating at 2000 psi. Formulation of the tracer in cyclodextrin resulted in a significantly higher integrated uptake and distribution volume values. Additionally, we observed higher uptake and slower clearance of 11C-toluene in white matter, consistent with higher lipid content and neurotoxicological evidence indicating restricted and diffuse white matter changes in toluene abusers. This trend was observed when either DMA or cyclodextrin was used as a vehicle. It appears then, that the choice of a vehicle affected only the degree of bioavailability, but not the regional brain pharmacokinetics. Finally, we demonstrated the effect of a decreased percent difference between DV values for the studies performed on the same day, that is, test/retest variability was lower for all brain regions in beta-cyclodextrin experiments. Present results clearly demonstrate that the choice of a vehicle has a significant effect on tracer uptake and should be considered as a potential factor contributing to the pharmacokinetic measurements.