Microfluidics: A Groundbreaking Technology for PET Tracer Production?

Molecules

Christian Rensch²  Alexander Jackson³  Simon Lindner¹  Ruben Salvamoser²  Victor Samper²  Stefan Riese³  Peter Bartenstein¹  Carmen Wängler¹ 

[1] University Hospital Munich, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ludwig Maximilians-University, Munich 81377, Germany; E-Mails:;GE Global Research, Freisinger Landstrasse 50, Garching bei Munich 85748, Germany; E-Mails:;GE Healthcare, Life Sciences, The Grove Centre, White Lion Rd., Amersham HP7 9LL, UK; E-Mails:

关键词: microfluidics;    PET;    molecular imaging;    PET probes;    PET tracers;    PET biomarkers;    radiolabelling;    synthetic chemistry;    lab on a chip;    radiochemistry;    probe discovery;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules18077930

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Application of microfluidics to Positron Emission Tomography (PET) tracer synthesis has attracted increasing interest within the last decade. The technical advantages of microfluidics, in particular the high surface to volume ratio and resulting fast thermal heating and cooling rates of reagents can lead to reduced reaction times, increased synthesis yields and reduced by-products. In addition automated reaction optimization, reduced consumption of expensive reagents and a path towards a reduced system footprint have been successfully demonstrated. The processing of radioactivity levels required for routine production, use of microfluidic-produced PET tracer doses in preclinical and clinical imaging as well as feasibility studies on autoradiolytic decomposition have all given promising results. However, the number of microfluidic synthesizers utilized for commercial routine production of PET tracers is very limited. This study reviews the state of the art in microfluidic PET tracer synthesis, highlighting critical design aspects, strengths, weaknesses and presenting several characteristics of the diverse PET market space which are thought to have a significant impact on research, development and engineering of microfluidic devices in this field. Furthermore, the topics of batch- and single-dose production, cyclotron to quality control integration as well as centralized versus de-centralized market distribution models are addressed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.