Manganese-52 positron emission tomography tracer characterization and initial results in phantoms and in vivo.

PURPOSE: Manganese(II) is employed as a contrast agent with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for study of neuronal activation in rats and mice. However, at the concentrations required for MRI, Mn may induce pharmacological or toxic effects. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of (52)MnCl2 at tracer doses has the potential to allow similar Mn studies as manganese-enhanced MRI while providing quantitative results and avoiding toxic effects. In this work, (52)MnCl2 is produced and characterized as a PET tracer in phantoms and in rats. METHODS: (52)MnCl2 was produced by proton irradiation of natural Cr foil and separated by column chromatography. Images were acquired on a Siemens Focus 120 small animal PET scanner. Phantom images were acquired to assess uniformity, resolution, cascade background correction, and count rate linearity. Images of rats were also acquired after systemic and intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of (52)MnCl2 to investigate Mn(II) distribution in vivo. RESULTS: Irradiation yield was 74.6 ± 8.5 kBq/µA min (52)Mn at end of bombardment with initial specific activity of at least 3.5 MBq/nmol. (52)Mn PET images show similar uniformity and resolution to (18)F. (18)F based detector efficiency normalization is adequate for (52)Mn imaging. Subtraction of a rescaled random events distribution from sinogram data is effective for cascade correction of (52)Mn PET data. After systemic injection, (52)Mn appears in structures throughout the body of rats, including bones, liver, intestines, and the pituitary gland, but does not appear detectably throughout the brain. After ICV injection, (52)Mn remains in the brain and spinal cord. CONCLUSIONS: (52)Mn is a promising tracer for small animal PET imaging, yielding image quality comparable to (18)F. Potential applications include studies similar to Mn-enhanced neuronal MRI, and in other organ systems including bones, spinal cord, and the digestive tract.