Measurement of Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability with Positron Emission Tomography and [ Ga]EDTA

• Published in: Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism 1984-09, Vol.4 (3), p.323-328
• Main Authors: Kessler, R. M., Goble, J. C., Bird, J. H., Girton, M. E., Doppman, J. L., Rapoport, S. I., Barranger, J. A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Blood-Brain Barrier; Capillary Permeability; Cerebral circulation. Blood-brain barrier. Choroid plexus. Cerebrospinal fluid. Circumventricular organ. Meninges; Edetic Acid; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gallium Radioisotopes; Macaca mulatta; Models, Biological; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
• ISSN: 0271-678X; 1559-7016
• DOI: 10.1038/jcbfm.1984.48

Positron emission tomography (PET) was employed to examine time-dependent changes in blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability to [68Ga]ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) in the rhesus monkey, following reversible barrier opening by intracarotid infusion of a hypertonic mannitol solution. The PET technique, when combined with measurements of plasma radioactivity, provided a quantitative measure of the cerebrovascular permeability-area product (PA) at different times following mannitol infusion. Hypertonic mannitol treatment reversibly increased PA to [68Ga]EDTA more than 10-fold; much of the barrier effect was over by 10 min after mannitol treatment. The results show that PET can be used to measure transient changes in BBB integrity in specific brain regions, under in vivo, noninvasive conditions.