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Longitudinal measurements of dopamine (DA) uptake and turnover in transgenic rodents may be critical when developing disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson's disease (PD). We demonstrate methodology for such measurements using [18F]fluoro-3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine ([18F]FDOPA) positron emission tomography (PET). The method was applied to 6-hydroxydopamine lesioned rats, providing the first PET-derived estimates of DA turnover for this species. Control (n=4) and unilaterally lesioned (n=11) rats were imaged multiple times. Kinetic modeling was performed using extended Patlak, incorporating a kloss term for metabolite washout, and modified Logan methods. Dopaminergic terminal loss was measured via [11C]-(+)-dihydrotetrabenazine (DTBZ) PET. Clear striatal [18F]FDOPA uptake was observed. In the lesioned striatum the effective DA turnover increased, shown by a reduced effective distribution volume ratio (EDVR) for [18F]FDOPA. Effective distribution volume ratio correlated (r>0.9) with the [11C]DTBZ binding potential (BPND). The uptake and trapping rate (kref) decreased after lesioning, but relatively less so than [11C]DTBZ BPND. For normal controls, striatal estimates were kref=0.037±0.005 per minute, EDVR=1.07±0.22 and kloss=0.024±0.003 per minute (30 minutes turnover half-time), with repeatability (coefficient of variation) ≤11%. [18F]fluoro-3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine PET enables measurements of DA turnover in the rat, which is useful for developing novel therapies for PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]