title: Studying the biodistribution of positron emission tomography reporter probes in mice.
abstract: Positron emission tomography (PET) reporter probes (PRPs) are used to detect PET reporter gene (PRG) expression in living subjects. This article details protocols for analyzing the biodistribution of a PRP used to detect herpes simplex virus 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-tk) or mutant HSV1-sr39tk PRG expression. However, the methods described are generalizable to other beta- or gamma/positron-emitting probes. Accumulation of PRPs in animal tissues can be determined by counting PRP activity of isolated tissues, whereas digital whole-body autoradiography (DWBA) provides high-resolution images of PRP biodistribution in 5- to 45-microm tissue slices of killed research animals at a single time point. Biodistribution assay results may be obtained in less than a week after beginning the assay, and DWBA image acquisitions can take up to 3 months depending on the probe's radioisotope.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, Stanford University School of Medicine, Clark Centre, 318 Campus Drive E150, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Shahriar S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Yaghoubi
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Sanjiv S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gambhir
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002138:Calibration; D004583:Electrons; D051379:Mice; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D012588:Scintillation Counting; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000201:enzymology*; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000032:analysis*; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D013937:Thymidine Kinase