MIBG and catecholamine storage in the brain: an in-vitro study

The uptake and release of mIBG, a tracer of the monoamine uptake and storage function, were studied on superfused rat cerebral cortex sections. mIBG was taken up and released by a mechanism comparable to that of norepinephrine (NE), but this storage appeared to be less specific for mIBG than for NE. This implies that when mIBG is used as a scintigraphic tracer of monoaminergic synaptic vesicles, imaging should be delayed long enough to ensure release of the molecule from its nonspecific binding sites.