Intratumoral distribution of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose in vivo: high accumulation in macrophages and granulation tissues studied by microautoradiography.

While 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) is a useful tumor imaging agent, its intratumoral distribution has not been described well at the cellular level. In order to demonstrate cellular localization of [18F]FDG and 2-deoxy-D-[3H]glucose (3H-DG) uptake by the tumor in vivo, C3H/He mice transplanted subcutaneously with FM3A tumors were studied 1 hr after intravenous injection of [18F]FDG or 3H-DG using micro- and macro-autoradiography. Fluorine-18-FDG and 3H-DG showed the same distribution pattern in the tumor with both autoradiographic methods. The newly formed granulation tissue around the tumor and macrophages, which were massively infiltrating the marginal areas surrounding necrotic area of the tumor showed a higher uptake of [18F]FDG than the viable tumor cells. A maximum of 29% of the glucose utilization was derived from nontumor tissue in this tumor. The comparison of double-tracer autoradiographic distribution patterns of [18F]FDG and [6-3H]-thymidine showed the differences and the similarities between glucose utilization and the DNA synthesis. Whole proliferating tissue metabolizes [18F] FDG but not vice versa. High accumulation of [18F]FDG in the tumor is believed to represent high metabolic activity of the viable tumor cells. Our results showed that one should consider not only the tumor cells proper but also the non-neoplastic cellular elements, which appear in association with growth or necrosis of the tumor cells, for precise analysis of [18F]FDG uptake in tumor-bearing subjects, especially after anti-neoplastic treatment.