Quantitative positron emission tomography in brain research

Kerstin Heurling; Antoine Leuzy; My Jonasson; Andreas Frick; Eduardo R Zimmer; Agneta Nordberg; Mark Lubberink

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2017.06.022

Quantitative positron emission tomography in brain research

Brain Res. 2017 Sep 1:1670:220-234. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2017.06.022. Epub 2017 Jun 23.

Authors

Kerstin Heurling¹, Antoine Leuzy², My Jonasson³, Andreas Frick⁴, Eduardo R Zimmer⁵, Agneta Nordberg⁶, Mark Lubberink³

Affiliations

¹ Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Translational Alzheimer Neurobiology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Medical Physics, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul (BraIns), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
⁶ Department Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Translational Alzheimer Neurobiology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Geriatric Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.

PMID: 28652218
DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2017.06.022

Abstract

The application of positron emission tomography (PET) in brain research has increased substantially during the past 20years, and is still growing. PET provides a unique insight into physiological and pathological processes in vivo. In this article we introduce the fundamentals of PET, and the methods available for acquiring quantitative estimates of the parameters of interest. A short introduction to different areas of application is also given, including basic research of brain function and in neurology, psychiatry, drug receptor occupancy studies, and its application in diagnostics of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Our aim is to inform the unfamiliar reader of the underlying basics and potential applications of PET, hoping to inspire the reader into considering how the technique could be of benefit for his or her own research.

Keywords: Brain; Diagnostics; Imaging biomarkers; Molecular imaging; Positron emission tomography.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Alzheimer Disease / diagnostic imaging
Animals
Brain / diagnostic imaging*
Brain / pathology
Humans
Neurodegenerative Diseases / diagnostic imaging
Neurodegenerative Diseases / pathology
Parkinson Disease / diagnostic imaging
Positron-Emission Tomography / methods*
Positron-Emission Tomography / trends*