Use of vibratome sectioning and phosphor imaging to characterize distribution of carbon-14 in brain after administration of radio-labeled acetaldehyde and acetate

We tried to obtain distribution maps of good quality for mouse brain sections for 14C after injecting [1-14C]acetate and [1-14C]acetaldehyde using vibratome/phosphorimager technique. Quantitative analysis of the images obtained with this technique showed significant differences in relative radioactivity between acetaldehyde and acetate in the hippocampus, with acetate levels higher than acetaldehyde. To confirm the results, microdissection experiments of mice brains were conducted, and radioactivity was quantified using liquid scintillation counting. The results were normalized to total brain radioactivity for each radiotracer and significantly higher hippocampus to whole brain ratio was confirmed for acetate compared to acetaldehyde. In contrast to the relative higher uptake of label in hippocampus after administration of acetate, the absolute brain uptake was higher for acetaldehyde in all regions.