Infection imaging is an important field in radionuclide imaging. But there are few reports about positron radionuclide labeled agents. To investigate a kind of specific infection imaging agent which can differentiate bacteria caused infection
we have radiosynthesized fluorine-18 labeled Levofloxacin (LVFX) for infection imaging. A typical Hamacher method was used to label LVFX. Radiochemistry purity was more than 98%
yield rate was about 40% and the pyretogen test result was negative. The labeling result showed that the labeling method was easy
procedure was simple and labeled agent was stable. The biodistribution and imaging of F-LVFX in animal model was also studied. 18 Both biodistribution and imaging result showed higher uptake of F-LVFX in infected tissues. The accumulation of 18 labeled agent in infected and normal tissue showed significant difference (P<0.05). This labeled agent was mainly excreted through kidney and liver. It is suggested that fluorine-18 labeled LVFX is a potential infection imaging agent.