The BioSpace Beta MicroProbe from LabLogic Systems is a unique optical fibre tool for measuring the kinetics of beta-labelled molecules on anaesthetised animals
Ideal for situations where blood sampling is difficult or impractical, the BioSpace Beta MicroProbe from LabLogic Systems can be stereotaxically implanted into a blood vessel, organ, tumour or other locus to measure the input function.
Applications include micro-PET (there are no metal parts), behaviour studies and radiotracer development.
The MicroProbe can also be used for pharmacokinetics as an alternative to micro-PET.
Up to four probes can be used in an experiment, with one normally used as a reference.
A sophisticated software package supplied with the system measures the kinetics of the labelled molecule on-line.
The MicroProbe is compatible with all B+ emitters (11C, 18F, 32P) and some energetic B-emitters (131I).
Probes of various lengths are available, with heads in sizes from 250um to 1um; the smallest is particularly useful for implantation in blood vessels.
Detection of the B disintegrations is measured in a voxel of approximately 1mm.
Probe sensitivity is around 1uCi/ml for 1-second sampling times and Femtomol/ml sensitivities are achieved with FDG.
Count rates using a 1mm diameter probe are 0.55cps/kBq/ml for 18F and 0.68cps/kBq/ml for 11C.
The corresponding rates with a 500mm diameter probe are 0.22cps/kBq/ml and 11C: 0.33cps/kBq/ml.
Background count rate is less than 5cps.
