PET imaging in rats to discern temporal onset differences between 6-hydroxydopamine and tau gene vector neurodegeneration models.

We attempted to monitor the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system in rats with positron emission tomography (PET) during the progression of two experimental disease states. One model was 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioning and the other was direct gene transfer of the microtubule-associated protein tau to the substantia nigra using an adeno-associated virus vector (AAV9). The PET ligand was 6-[18F]fluoro-L-m-tyrosine (FMT), imaged prior to, and at two intervals after initiating dopaminergic neurodegeneration.