Abstract:
The principles and initial results of the use of PET to measure
the local cerebral metabolic rate for protein synthesis ( lCRPS ) in
humans are described. The labeling of leucine, phenylalanine, and
methionine in the carboxyl position provides a strategy (selective
position labeling) for discriminating between the incorporation of these
amino acids into proteins and metabolic oxidation. In metabolic
oxidation the label is removed from tissue through decarboxylation. The
resulting labeled carbon dioxide is diluted by the tissue carbon dioxide
pool, cleared from cerebral tissue by blood flow, and subsequently
ventilated by the lungs. This approach also provides a plasma input
function that is free of other labeled amino acids produced through
systemic reactions, such as those that occur for methionine labeled in
the methyl group. The measured lCRPS is in good agreement with values
determined by Smith and Sokoloff by autoradiographic and biochemical
assay techniques, as are the measured kinetic rate constants of
bidirectional transport, incorporation into proteins, and metabolism, as
determined in monkeys and humans using L-leucine labeled with carbon- 11
in position 1 (L-[1-11C]leucine) with PET. The tissue leucine precursor
pool exhibits a rapid turnover rate (1.5 to 2 minutes), while the
metabolic pathway has a half-time (about 18 minutes) that is close to
the radioactive half-life of carbon-11. The dietary state was found to
affect the branching ratio of lCRPS /metabolism, with a fasted value of
0.4 and carbohydrate feed values ranging up to 1.7. The principle of the
method appears sound, and a first-order model provides good fits to
data, but much more work is required to determine and validate the model
structure and to optimize the study conditions and estimation criteria