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2-[(18)F]fluoro-A-85380 (2-[(18)F]FA) is a new radioligand for noninvasive imaging of alpha4beta2* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) by positron emission tomography (PET) in human brain. In most cases, quantification of 2-[(18)F]FA receptor binding involves measurement of free nonmetabolized radioligand concentration in blood. This requires an efficient and reliable method to separate radioactive metabolites from the parent compound. In the present study, three analytical methods, thin layer chromatography (TLC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and solid phase extraction (SPE) have been tested. Reversed-phase TLC of deproteinized aqueous samples of plasma provides good estimates of 2-[(18)F]FA and its metabolites. However, because of the decreased radioactivity in plasma samples, this method can be used in humans over the first 2 h after radioligand injection only. Reliable quantification of the parent radioligand and its main metabolites was obtained using reversed-phase HPLC, followed by counting of eluted fractions in a well gamma counter. Three main and five minor metabolites of 2-[(18)F]FA were detected in human blood using this method. On average, the unchanged 2-[(18)F]FA fraction in plasma of healthy volunteers measured at 14, 60, 120, 240 and 420 min after radioligand injection was 87.3+/-2.2%, 74.4+/-3%, 68.8+/-5%, 62.3+/-8% and 61.0+/-8%, respectively. In patients with neurodegenerative disorders, the values corresponding to the three last time points were significantly lower. The fraction of nonmetabolized 2-[(18)F]FA in plasma determined using SPE did not differ significantly from that obtained by HPLC (+gamma counting) (n=73, r=.95). Since SPE is less time-consuming than HPLC and provides comparable results, we conclude that SPE appears to be the most suitable method for measurement of 2-[(18)F]FA parent fraction during PET investigations.