Unsymmetrical alkyl aryl thiourea compounds for use as cerebral blood flow tracers

The synthesis and characterization of an homologous series of inert nonvolatile 14C-labeled unsymmetrical alkyl aryl thiourea compounds is described for their use as regional blood flow (rCBF) tracers employing autoradiographic procedures. In alert normocapnic rats the single-pass extraction values into brain for these thioureas were found to be dependent on their respective lipid solubilities ranging from 0.497 for 1-methyl-3-phenylthiourea to 0.730 for 1-butyl-3-phenylthiourea. The commonly used rCBF tracers [14C]antipyrine and [14C]iodoantipyrine had single-pass extraction values of 0.451 and 0.553, respectively. The single-pass extraction value for n-butanol was found to be the same as that for 1-butyl-3-phenylthiourea indicating that both n-butanol and 1-butyl-3-phenylthiourea are mildly diffusion limited at normal rates of flow in rat brain. Since 1-butyl-3-phenylthiourea diffused most readily into rat brain it was chosen as a potentially valuable rCBF tracer. Its brain-blood partition coefficient was found to be 1.09. The plasma distribution of this thiourea in blood varied inversely with the hematocrit, and the compound was freely exchangeable between plasma and erythrocytes. Employing 1-butyl-3-phenylthiourea to measure rCBF and its empirically derived brain extraction values the following flow rates in normocapnic rats were found: 3.2 ml . g-1 . min-1 for cochlear nucleus: 3.0 for inferior colliculus; 2.5 for medical geniculate; 1.9 for pontine gray and hypothalamus; 1.7 for caudate and cerebral cortex; and 1.2 for cerebellar gray and 0.41-0.50 for white matter structures. It was concluded from these studies that 1-butyl-3-phenylthiourea is more advantageous than iodoantipyrine for measuring rCBF, especially in those areas that possess very rapid rates of flow.