Structure dependence of long-chain [¹⁸F]fluorothia fatty acids as myocardial fatty acid oxidation probes

In vivo imaging of regional fatty acid oxidation (FAO) rates would have considerable potential for evaluation of mammalian diseases. We have synthesized and evaluated ¹⁸F-labeled thia fatty acid analogues as metabolically trapped FAO probes to understand the effect of chain length, degree of unsaturation, and placement of the thia substituent on myocardial uptake and retention. 18-[¹⁸F]Fluoro-4-thia-(9Z)-octadec-9-enoic acid (3) showed excellent heart/background radioactivity concentration ratios along with highest retention in heart and liver. Pretreatment of rats with the CPT-1 inhibitor, POCA, caused >80% reduction in myocardial uptake of 16-[ ¹⁸F]fluoro-4-thiahexadecanoic acid (2) and 3, indicating high specificity for FAO. In contrast, 18-[¹⁸F]fluoro-4-thiaoctadecanoic acid (4) showed dramatically reduced myocardial uptake and blunted response to POCA. 18-[¹⁸F]Fluoro-6-thiaoctadecanoic acid (5) showed moderate myocardial uptake and no sensitivity of myocardial uptake to POCA. The results demonstrate relationships between structures of ¹⁸F-labeled thia fatty acid and uptake and their utility as FAO probes in various tissues.