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Small Animal Molecular Imaging Through μPET and μSPECT

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PET and SPECT of Neurobiological Systems

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Abstract

Compared to techniques such as autoradiography and microscopy, the possibility to longitudinally study small animals in vivo justifies the need for preclinical molecular imaging: μSPECT and μPET. In the first part of this chapter, we describe a performance evaluation to compare the three most widespread state-of-the-art μSPECT systems. Once the optimal system is chosen, we use it to study neuromodulation in rats as an application of high-resolution μSPECT imaging. Both the neurobiological effects of deep brain stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation are visualized in vivo in healthy animals. In the second part of this chapter, μPET is discussed. We first describe how a preclinical acquisition protocol can be standardized and how the resulting reconstructed images can be accurately quantified. Next, we apply this standardized protocol to a typical application of μPET in drug design, where we study the potency of a mGluR2/3 agonist in an animal model of schizophrenia.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our other colleagues from the Molecular Imaging Center Antwerp of Antwerp University, the Cyclotron Radiopharmacy and the Nuclear Medicine Department of the University Hospital Antwerp as well as our partners at Neuroscience Janssen Pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson and our former colleagues of UGent-Medisip-Infinity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Imaging Center Antwerp (MICA), University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Antwerp (Wilrijk), Belgium

    Steven Staelens MScEng, PhD, Tine Wyckhuys, Steven Deleye, Jeroen Verhaeghe, Leonie Wyffels & Sigrid Stroobants

  2. Cyclotron Radiopharmacy, University Hospital Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, Antwerp (Edegem), Belgium

    Leonie Wyffels

  3. Nuclear Medicine Department, University Hospital Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, Antwerp (Edegem), Belgium

    Sigrid Stroobants

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  1. Steven Staelens MScEng, PhD
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  2. Tine Wyckhuys
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  3. Steven Deleye
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  4. Jeroen Verhaeghe
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  5. Leonie Wyffels
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  6. Sigrid Stroobants
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven Staelens MScEng, PhD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Rudi A.J.O. Dierckx

  2. Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, University of Applied Sciences Offenburg, Offenburg, Germany

    Andreas Otte

  3. Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Erik F.J. de Vries

  4. Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Aren van Waarde

  5. Molecular Neurobiology, Universtiy of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Paul G.M. Luiten

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Staelens, S., Wyckhuys, T., Deleye, S., Verhaeghe, J., Wyffels, L., Stroobants, S. (2014). Small Animal Molecular Imaging Through μPET and μSPECT. In: Dierckx, R., Otte, A., de Vries, E., van Waarde, A., Luiten, P. (eds) PET and SPECT of Neurobiological Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-42014-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-42014-6_2

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