ABSTRACT
The initial design of the small animal positron emission tomography (PET) systems has been steadily improved upon, with systems available from several different companies. These newer systems offer substantially and greater sensitivity and better resolution than initial prototypes. With high resolution and sensitivity systems available, the emphasis has started to shift to the radiochemist and the development of appropriately labeled compounds for the biological process under investigation. The ability to image mice and rats enables small animal PET research to operate using the species best understood by the biological and pharmacological research community. Mouse atlases have been created using technologies such as microCAT, microPET and referenced to mouse anatomy characterized with a cryostat. A relatively new area of investigation with PET is the labeling of antibodies or antibody fragments to image their protein targets. In-vivo processes can often be investigated using multiple PET imaging probes.
