Lipophilic cations such as phosphonium salts penetrate the hydrophobic barriers of the plasma and mitochondrial membranes and accumulate in mitochondria in response to the negative inner-transmembrane potentials. Thus, as newly developed noninvasive imaging agents,[18F]-labeled phosphonium salts may serve as molecular “voltage sensor” probes to investigate the role of mitochondria, particularly in myocardial disease. The present study ...