by Benjamin RotsteinImaging glucose utilization is a mainstay and the most well-known application of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. If one had to choose a single tracer that headlines the technology, surely many would select [18F]2-deoxy-2-fluoro-d-glucose ([18F]FDG). But imaging with [18F]FDG does not reflect the total picture of glucose distribution and metabolism in vivo; it mostly tells us about the facilitated glucose transporters GLUTs, and especially GLUT1, which provides basal glucose supply to almost all tissues. Over the last several years, a group out of University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) has been developing radiotracers for the sodium-glucose linked transporters (SGLTs). Methyl [18F]4-deoxy-4-fluoro-α-D-glucosepyranoside ([18F]Me-4FDG) is also a glucose derivative, but is a poor substrate for the GLUTs and has greater affinity for SGLT1 and SGLT2. Similar to [18F]FDG, [18F]Me-4FDG is effectively trapped intracellularly as it is not a substrate for further downstream metabolism and due to low rate of exit through SGLTs.
