DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL RADIOPHARMACEUTICALS FOR EARLY STAGE DIAGNOSIS OF CEREBRAL NEURODEGENERATION AND FUNCTIONAL RECOVERRY AFTER INTRASTRIATAL GRAFTS

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We studied the PET tracer distributions of ligands for dopamine D_1 receptors ([^<11>C]SCH23390) and D_2 receptors ([^<11>C]raclopride) and of the dopamine precursor analog ([^<18>F]FDOPA) after 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions of the medial forebrain bundle in rats. The brains of 6-OHDA treated rats were analyzed by tissue dissection at 3 days (acute stage) or 3 weeks (chronic stage) postlesion. [^<11>C] Raclopride, but not [^<11>C]SCH23390, showed a higher accumulation in the striatum on the lesion side compared with that on the intact side both 3 days and 3 weeks postlesion. On the other hand, a lower accumulation of [^<18>F]FDOPA was found in the striatum on the lesion side 3 days postlesion, and both in the striatum and cerebral cortex on the lesion side 3 weeks postlesion. An increase in raclopride and a decrease in FDOPA uptake in the denervated striatum is evident even at 3 days following the 6-OHDA lesions when the degree of methamphetamine (MAP)-induced rotation is not esta … More blished. Therefore the combination of D_2 antagonist and FDOPA may provide a potentially useful method for assessing the effects of dopamine depletion in Parkinson's disease.In addition, we examined the topological specificity of MAP-induced activation of the immediate-early gene proteins, Fos and Zif268, in the nigrostriatal system in a unilateral 6-OHDA rat model of Parkinson's disease with or without intrastriatal grafts of fetal ventral mesencephalon. The differential expression of Fos and Zif268 was observed among the three regions of the nigrostriatal system following MAP in the 6-OHDA rats. This may suggest that Fos and Zif268 therefore possess gene-specific and region-specific functions in the basal ganglia nuclei.For SPECT application, radioiodinated derivatives of dopamine biosynthesis precursor, [^<123>I]I-IMT and [^<123>I]I-FTM, were evaluated as diagnosis agents for early detection of neurodegeneration. In the biodistribution study, I-IMT accumulation in the striatum on the lesion side 3 days postlesion increased, then decreased in 2 weeks postlesion, compared with the intact side. On the other hand, I-FTM showed a lower accumulation in the striatum on the lesion side compared with that on the intact side both 3 days and 2 weeks postlesion. I-FTM, with an affinity to the final enzyme of dopamine biosynthesis, was sensitive for detection of neurodegeneration in acute stage. Thus, both I-IMT and I-FTM may be new candidates of sensitive radiopharmaceuticals in detecting function of cerebral dopaminergic neuron. Less