Fluorinated psychopharmacological agents: noninvasive observation by fluorine-19 nuclear magnetic resonance.

Fluorinated psychopharmacological agents were measured with fluorine-19 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the brain of intact rats that had been treated with fluphenazine. These in vivo experiments were compared to in vitro measurements of fluphenazine-treated rats. A high-field shift was observed in both in vivo and in vitro measurements. On the basis of the in vitro measurements, fluphenazine concentration in the brains of treated rats was estimated. Our observations demonstrate the feasibility of this technique for determining fluorinated neuroleptics in live mammals.