Effects of common anesthetic agents on [F]flumazenil binding to the GABA receptor.

Background: The availability of GABA receptor binding sites in the brain can be assessed by positron emission tomography (PET) using the radioligand, [F]flumazenil. However, the brain uptake and binding of this PET radioligand are influenced by anesthetic drugs, which are typically needed in preclinical imaging studies and clinical imaging studies involving patient populations that do not tolerate relatively longer scan times. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of anesthesia on the binding of [F]flumazenil to GABA receptors in mice.