The overall goal of this protocol is to evaluate microglial activation in the brain using [18F]PBR06 in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The specific objectives are:~To measure the dynamic uptake and washout of [18F]PBR06 (Peripheral benzodiazepine receptor-06) in brain using positron emission tomography (PET) in patients with ALS and healthy volunteers (HV).~To evaluate test/retest reliability of the tracer binding parameters in patients with ALS and HV.~To evaluate the correlation of [18F]PBR06 binding with ALS disease clinical severity (ALSFRS-R, upper motor neuron burden (UMNB) and Ashworth Score), clinical disease sub-categorization, and other clinical data.~To perform kinetic modeling using plasma-based (metabolite corrected plasma concentration) or reference region based methods or simplified quantification methods to assess the ability of [18F]PBR06 PET to measure microglial activation in brain.~To acquire safety data following injection of [18F]PBR06.
The overall goal of this protocol is to evaluate microglial activation in the brain using [18F]PBR06 in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).