Su Xu1,2, Kunrong Cheng3,
Sandeep Khurana3, Diana Johnson4, James Polli4,
Da Shi1,2, Steven Roys1,2, Rao Gullapalli1,2,
Jean-Pierre Raufman3
1Diagnostic Radiology &
Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD,
United States; 2Core for Translational Research in Imaging @
Maryland University of Maryland School ; 3Department of Medicine,
University of Maryland School of Medicine; 4Department of
Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
In our quest to use 19F MRI to measure bile acid transport in live animals, it occurred to us that isoflurane, a commonly-used inhalant anesthetic containing 5 fluorides per molecule and metabolized by the liver, provides an excellent test drug. Indeed, mice inhaling 1.5% isoflurane revealed robust 19F signals from the gallbladder, verified by overlying 1H and 19F signals. 19F signal was not detected in mice anesthetized with non-halogenated drugs. In gallbladder bile, isoflurane excretion was confirmed using LC-MS. These proof-of-concept data identify a novel approach to measure in vivo biliary excretion of existing and novel 19F-labeled drugs.