Fig. 4.
K8flox/flox; Villin-Cre mice possess increased metabolic activity in the lower gut, measured using [18F]FDG-PET in vivo and ex vivo imaging. K8flox/flox and K8flox/flox; Villin-Cre mice (7–8 months old) were injected with [18F]FDG in the tail vein and imaged after 1 h. A 18F-radioactivity was measured in blood, plasma, erythrocytes, colon, ceacum, ileum, jejunum, duodenum, stomach, and liver ex vivo and in kidney and brain from in vivo images. Significant radioactivity was observed in the colon and ileum of K8flox/flox; Villin-Cre mice compared to K8flox/flox mice. Bars represent mean SUV ± SD and individual mice values are shown as dots. B Representative images indicate increased metabolic activity in the lower gut, where arrows highlight the increased activity in colon tissue. SUV is standard uptake value. P values represent the difference between genotypes and were determined using Student’s t test. ***P < 0.001. n = 3