A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Facility has been established at the University of Michigan for the development of a new, non-invasive approach to human brain research utilizing positron emitting metabolic and pharmacologic probes. A dedicated TCC CS-30 medical cyclotron, a TCC PCT-4600A tomographic scanner, the radiochemical/radiopharmaceutical facilities and a small image processing computer facility will be used in the performance of PET studies and complement the existing Nuclear Medicine facilities. Proposed studies involve the use of positron emitting probes 15-0-C0, 15-0-H20, 15-0-02, 18-F-2-deoxyglucose, 11-C-BCNU, 68-Ga-EDTA and 11-C-Scopolamine to study cerebral blood volume, blood flow and partition coefficients, oxygen utilization, glucose utilization, tumor uptake, blood-brain barrier integrity and muscarinic receptors respectively. Patients with Huntington's disease, epilepsy, brain tumors, the hypotonic and hypertonic phases of paralysis associated with stroke, dystonia, olivopontocerebellar atrophy and aging in the human brain will also be studied. Studies of the normal brain with several agents will continue. New positron-emitting radiopharmaceuticals will be synthesized and new labeling techniques will be investigated. 11-C-Scopolamine will be available for high specific activity in vivo receptor studies and 11-C-amine cyclopentane carbocylic acid (ACPC) will be developed for amino acid uptake studies. New physiological modeling techniques will be instituted for mapping receptor sites. Parameter estimation techniques will be developed to determine rate constants from dynamic PET studies of FDG metabolism.
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