Rabbit hindlimb glucose uptake assessed with positron-emitting fluorodeoxyglucose

Area of Science:

• Biomedical imaging
• Nuclear medicine
• Physiology

Background:

• Skeletal muscle is a primary site for glucose disposal.
• Accurate in vivo measurement of muscle glucose uptake is crucial for understanding metabolic disorders.
• Current methods for assessing glucose uptake have limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of using 2-[18F]deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose (2-[18F]FDG) for in vivo skeletal muscle glucose uptake estimation.
• To assess the sensitivity of this method to physiological interventions like contractile activity and hyperinsulinemia.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a rabbit hindlimb model with a pair of collimated coincidence gamma photon detectors.
• Administered 2-[18F]FDG and monitored tracer accumulation over time.
• Measured arterial input, plasma glucose, lactate, free fatty acids, and insulin.
• Employed a graphical (Patlak plot) procedure for quantitative analysis.

Main Results:

• Calculated the basal rate of glucose phosphorylation in skeletal muscle.
• Observed an increased rate of tracer phosphorylation during electrical stimulation (contractile activity).
• Found no significant change in tracer phosphorylation during hyperinsulinemia.

Conclusions:

• The 2-[18F]FDG PET imaging method combined with graphical analysis is a viable noninvasive technique for assessing skeletal muscle glucose uptake in vivo.
• This method is sensitive to changes in glucose uptake induced by physiological interventions.
• Supports the potential application of this technique in metabolic research and clinical diagnostics.