Brookhaven Finds Faster Way to Tag Formaldehyde
Cancer researchers often use PET scanners to study chemical interactions taking place inside the human body. To conduct these investigations, scientists attach radioactive tags to common chemicals found in the body then monitor their movements using PET technology.
These radioactive tags, commonly called radiotracers, have greatly advanced the understanding of cancer and other diseases in recent years, but limitations in existing radiotracers have kept some PET research from moving forward.
In some cases, no methods have been found for tagging molecules scientists need to study. In other scenarios, the tagging process is so time-consuming that the carbon-11 used to create radiotracers decays before PET scans can be completed (Carbon-11’s radioactive signal decreases by half every 20.4 minutes – when the signal becomes too weak, the tags are longer visible on PET scans).
To help solve these problems, scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory came up with a faster, simpler way to tag formaldehyde. The process uses inexpensive, commercially-available starting ingredients, requires only basic equipment, and allows radiotracer production to be completed faster so carbon-11 signals are still strong enough to be detected when the human subject is placed in the PET.
Since formaldehyde is involved in many chemical reactions in the body, this innovation will permit scientists to create a whole new class of radiotracers for PET research.
BNL chemist Jacob Hooker led the international team which developed the new method. He is optimistic the technique will one day be used to create compounds that will bind with brain cell receptors. The team is already investigating how new carbon-11 formaldehyde radiotracers can be put to use monitoring the movement of drugs, proteins and enzymes that have an impact on gene expression, a key process in cancer development. As Dr Hooker said,
“…there is a huge need for basic science to develop new strategies for making radiotracers. Our new method is part of that effort. It expands our tool kit of reagents and increases the number and types of compounds we can use to peer into the human body.”
Dr Jacob M. Hooker
Chemist, BNL
If you’d like to learn more this research, it has been published in the July 4, 2008, online edition of Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
Source: Brookhaven National Laboratory News
Related Link: Ascribe.org
Technorati Tags: biomedical imaging; German Academic Exchange Service; materials science; NIH-funded; oncology research; University of Mainz, Germany
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