Imaging human brown adipose tissue under room temperature conditions with 11C-MRB, a selective norepinephrine transporter PET ligand

Introduction Brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays a critical role in adaptive thermogenesis and is tightly regulated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). However, current BAT imaging modalities require cold stimulation and are often unreliable to detect BAT in the basal state, at room temperature (RT). We have shown previously that BAT can be detected in rodents under both RT and cold conditions with 11C-MRB ((S,S)-11C-O-methylreboxetine), a highly selective ligand for the norepinephrine transporter (NET). Here, we evaluate this novel approach for BAT detection in adult humans under RT conditions.