System and method for quantitatively mapping mitochondrial membrane potential

A method for quantitatively mapping membrane potential of a tissue in a subject, the method comprising:

• a) administering to the subject a detectably effective amount of a radioactive tracer;
• b) acquiring, using an emission tomography system, emission tomography data associated with the tissue;
• c) analyzing the emission tomography data to determine a concentration distribution of the radioactive tracer within the tissue;
• d) correlating, using a model, the concentration distribution of the radioactive tracer with the membrane potential of the tissue;
• e) determining, based on the correlation at step d), a membrane potential distribution of the tissue;
• and
• f) generating a report indicating the membrane potential distribution of the tissue.

A method for identifying a disease condition of a subject, the method comprising:

• i) administering to the subject a detectably effective amount of a tracer;
• ii) acquiring, using an emission tomography imaging system, emission tomography data and analyzing the emission tomography data to determine a concentration distribution of the tracer of a tissue of the subject;
• iii) correlating the concentration distribution of the tracer with a membrane potential of the subject's tissue;
• iv) processing the emission tomography data to generate a quantitative map of the membrane potential distribution of the subject's tissue;
• and
• v) generating a report indicative of the disease condition of the subject.

A system for quantitatively mapping membrane potential of a tissue in a subject, the system comprising:

• an emission imaging system configured to acquire emission data from the subject following an administration of a tracer;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• 1) access the emission data associated with the tissue;
• 2) analyze the emission data to determine a concentration distribution of the tracer of the tissue of the subject;
• 3) correlate the concentration distribution of the tracer with a membrane potential of the subject's tissue;
• and
• 4) generate, using the correlation, a quantitative map of the membrane potential distribution of the subject's tissue.