In the 1970's, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Pennsylvania and the National Institutes of Health, combined chemistry, neuroscience and instrumentation to develop ¹⁸FDG , a radiotracer for imaging brain function in the living human being.  This revolutionized the study of the human brain. 

¹⁸FDG/PET images showing brain function in a normal subject and in a cocaine addict.  The cocaine addict has depressed metabolism in frontal regions when compared to the normal subject.  Low frontal metabolism may underlie the loss of control in cocaine addiction.

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Original Literature

BM Gallagher, A ansari, H Atkins, V Casella, DR Christman, JS Fowler, T Ido, RR MacGregor, P Som, C-N Wan, AP Wolf, DE Kuhl, M Reivich.  Radiopharmaceuticals XXVII: ¹⁸F-labeled 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose as a radiopharmaceutical for measuring regional myocardial glucose metabolism in vivo: tissue distribution and imaging studies in animals. J Nucl Med 18: 990-996, 1977.

T Ido, C-N Wan, V Casella, JS Fowler, AP Wolf, M Reivich and D Kuhl. Labeled 2-deoxy-D-glucose analogs. F-18 labeled 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose, 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-mannose and C-14 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose. J Labeled Compounds and Radiopharm.  14: 175-184, 1978.

M Reivich, D Kuhl, AP Wolf, J Greenberg, M Phelps, T Ido, V Casella, J Fowler, E Hoffman, A Alavi, P Som and L Sokoloff. The 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose method for the measurement of local cerebral glucose utilization in man. Circ. Research 44, 127-137 (1979).

P Som, HL Atkins, D Bandoypadhyay, JS.Fowler, RR MacGregor, KÊMatsui, ZH Oster, DF Sacker, CY Shiue, H Turner, C-N Wan, A P Wolf and S Zabinski. A fluorinated glucose analog, 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F): Nontoxic tracer for rapid tumor detection. J Nucl Med 21, 670-675 (1980).

ND Volkow, R Hitzemann, G-J Wang, JS Fowler, AP Wolf, and SL Dewey.  Long-term frontal brain metabolic changes in cocaine abusers.  Synapse 11, 184-190 (1992).

Last updated July 23, 2004 .