Ten patients with cervical carcinoma received 0.5 g/m2 pimonidazole intravenously followed by biopsy of the cervical carcinoma the next day. Hypoxic cells were recognized by immunohistochemical detection of pimonidazole using a mouse monoclonal antibody. (18)F-Fluoroazomycin arabinoside (FAZA) will be administered via intravenous injection at a dose of 5.2 MBq/kg with a minimum dose of 100 MBq (2.7 mCi) and a maximum dose of 600 MBq (16.2 mCi) prior to positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. A single dose of oral pimonidazole capsules at a dose of 0.5 g/m2, will be taken by participants 16-20 hours prior to tumor resection surgery.

The high demand of mitochondrial respiration during insulin secretion, pancreatic β-cells consume large amounts of oxygen in a short time period. There was examined the effect of insulin secretion on cellular oxygen tension in vitro. It was confirmed that Western blotting of pimonidazole adduct was more sensitive than immunostaining for detection of cellular hypoxia in vitro. In MIN6 cells, a pancreatic β-cell line, pimonidazole adduct formation, and stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) were detected under mildly hypoxic conditions. MIN6 cells and PANC-1 cells were incubated at various oxygen tensions in the presence of pimonidazole (10 μM) for 3 h.