AUTHOR=Ceccarini Jenny , Liu Heather , Van Laere Koen , Morris Evan D. , Sander Christin Y. 

TITLE=Methods for Quantifying Neurotransmitter Dynamics in the Living Brain With PET Imaging

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2020.00792

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2020.00792

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p>Positron emission tomography (PET) neuroimaging in neuropsychiatry is a powerful tool for the quantification of molecular brain targets to characterize disease, assess disease subtype differences, evaluate short- and long-term effects of treatments, or even to measure neurotransmitter levels in healthy and psychiatric conditions. In this work, we present different methodological approaches (<italic>time-invariant model</italic>s and <italic>models with time-varying terms</italic>) that have been used to measure dynamic changes in neurotransmitter levels induced by pharmacological or behavioral challenges in humans. The developments and potential use of hybrid PET/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for neurotransmission brain research will also be highlighted.</p>