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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by a progressive loss of controlled cognitive processes, and neuroimaging studies at early stages of AD provide an opportunity to tease out the neural correlates of controlled processes. Accordingly, controlled and automatic memory performance was assessed with the Process Dissociation Procedure in 50 patients diagnosed with questionable Alzheimer's disease (QAD). The patients' brain glucose metabolism was measured using FDG-PET. After a follow-up period of 36 months, 27 patients had converted to AD, while 23 remained stable. Both groups showed a similar decrease in controlled memory processes but preserved automatic processes at entry into the study. Voxel-based cognitive and metabolic correlations showed that a decrease in controlled memory processes was preferentially correlated with lower activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices in very early AD patients. In stable QAD patients, reduced controlled performance in verbal memory correlated with impaired activity in the left anterior hippocampal structure. The results demonstrate the central role of a medial frontal-posterior cingulate network for controlled processing of episodic memory in the early stages of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The use of a polymeric solid support loaded with a long alkyl chain quaternary ammonium allows the rapid and efficient recovery of cyclotron produced [18F]F− from [18O]water to a low water content organic solution compatible with fast nucleophilic labelling of most precursors for PET radiopharmaceuticals in high yield. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The adhesion molecule P-selectin is present on the cell surface of both activated endothelium and activated platelets. The present study describes the pharmaceutical development, safety evaluation, and preclinical efficacy of a micro-dosed radiotracer. The macromolecular nanoscale assembly consisted of a natural compound made of a sulfated fucose-rich polysaccharides (fucoidan) and a radionuclide (technetium-99m) for the detection of P-selectin expression in cardiovascular diseases. After extraction and fractionation from brown seaweeds, the good manufacturing practice (GMP) production of a low molecular weight (LMW) fucoidan of 7 kDa was achieved and full physicochemical characterization was performed. The regulatory toxicology study in rats of the GMP batch of LMW fucoidan revealed no adverse effects up to 400 μg/kg (×500 higher than the expected human dose) and pseudoallergy was not seen as well. In a myocardial ischemia-reperfusion model in rats, the GMP-grade LMW fucoidan labeled with technetium-99m detected P-selectin upregulation in vivo. The present study supports the potential of using 99mTc-fucoidan as an imaging agent to detect activated endothelium in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A fast and reliable method suitable for the automated preparation of (substituted) [18F]fluorobenzyl halides from several [18F]fluorobenzaldehydes was developed. Aromatic nucleophilic substitution of trimethylammonium benzaldehyde triflate and nitro precursors was realized with no-carrier-added [18F]fluoride. After labeling, fluorine-18 containing aldehydes were trapped on a Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) cartridge and the subsequent conversion into benzyl halide was directly realized, on-line, on the support. Reduction of the aldehydes (>95%) was near-quantitative with an aqueous solution of NaBH4. Halogenation was performed on the same support with different aqueous solutions of concentrated acid (HI, HBr, HCl). The conversion of benzyl alcohols into [18F]fluorobenzyl halides (X=Cl, Br, I) usually proceeded within 2min at high yields. The halogenation proceeded at room temperature, with the exception of the 2-[18F]fluoro-3-methoxybenzyl, 2- and 4-[18F]fluorobenzyl halides, which required the use of HBr/HOAc (33%). With this method, various [18F]fluorobenzyl chloride, bromide and iodide compounds were obtained with high radiochemical purities (>90%) and with overall radiochemical yields of 15–70%. The radiosynthesis was completed in 30 or 45min from EOB, starting from the ammonium or nitro precursor, respectively. By using the same solid support, 2- and 4-[18F]fluorobenzyl bromide and iodide derivatives were near-quantitatively converted (>95%) into the corresponding azido compounds (60°C, 5min). As the reduction and halogenation steps were performed on solid supports, automation of the whole synthesis was straightforward. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two new silicon-based prosthetic groups, derived from 3-[ethoxybis(1-methylethyl)silyl]propanamine, have been prepared in good yields. These silicon groups bearing an acid or an azide group were coupled to a model tripeptide (Leu-Gly-Gly) either through a classical amide bond formation or through “click chemistry” via the Huisgen cycloaddition. The radiolabelling with fluorine-18 by substitution of the ethoxy group at silicon has been carried out with success in 51–54% decay corrected radiochemical yields. Radiolabelled peptides were easily prepared by direct 18F-fluorination of the silicon-bearing tripeptide or by coupling the peptide with a radiolabelled silicon-based prosthetic group. Their stabilities in physiological medium were studied and proved poor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In rats, the firing sequences observed in hippocampal ensembles during spatial learning are replayed during subsequent sleep, suggesting a role for posttraining sleep periods in the offline processing of spatial memories. Here, using regional cerebral blood flow measurements, we show that, in humans, hippocampal areas that are activated during route learning in a virtual town are likewise activated during subsequent slow wave sleep. Most importantly, we found that the amount of hippocampal activity expressed during slow wave sleep positively correlates with the improvement of performance in route retrieval on the next day. These findings suggest that learning-dependent modulation in hippocampal activity during human sleep reflects the offline processing of recent episodic and spatial memory traces, which eventually leads to the plastic changes underlying the subsequent improvement in performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using positron emission tomography (PET) and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measurements, we investigated the cerebral correlates of consciousness in a sequence learning task through a novel application of the Process Dissociation Procedure, a behavioral paradigm that makes it possible to separately assess conscious and unconscious contributions to performance. Results show that the metabolic response in the anterior cingulate/mesial prefrontal cortex (ACC/MPFC) is exclusively and specifically correlated with the explicit component of performance during recollection of a learned sequence. This suggests a significant role for the ACC/MPFC in the explicit processing of sequential material. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]