Definition
Molecular imaging (MI) is a biomedical research discipline enabling the visualization, characterization, and quantification of biological processes taking place at the cellular and subcellular levels within intact living subjects including patients. MI typically includes two- or three-dimensional imaging as well as quantification over time. The MI techniques may include radiotracer imaging/nuclear medicine (such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), optical imaging, ultrasound, and others.
Radiopharmaceuticals are drug molecules (containing radioactive atoms or radioisotopes) useful for noninvasive imaging studies or radionuclide therapy.
Nuclear medicine (PET and SPECT) uses...
References
Antoni G, Långström B (2005) Progress in 11C radiochemistry. In: Bailey DL, Townsend DW, Valk PE, Maisey MN (eds) Positron emission tomography: basic sciences. Springer, London, pp 223–236
Brooks DJ (2010) Imaging approaches to Parkinson disease. J Nucl Med 51:596–609
Cagnin A, Kassiou M, Meikle SR, Banati RB (2007) Positron emission tomography imaging of neuroinflammation. Neurotherapeutics 4:443–452
Ching ASC, Kuhnast B, Damont A (2012) Current paradigm of the 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO) as a molecular target for PET imaging in neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Insight Imaging 3:111–119
Dollé F (2013) Carbon-11 and fluorine-18 chemistry devoted to molecular probes for imaging the brain with positron emission tomography. J Label Compd Radiopharm 56:65–67
Eersels JLH, Travis MJ, Herscheid JDM (2005) Manufacturing I-123-labelled radiopharmaceuticals: pitfalls and solutions. J Label Compd Radiopharm 48:241–257
Fowler JS, Ding Y-S, Volkow ND (2003) Radiotracers for positron emission tomography imaging. Semin Nucl Med 33:14–27
Glass CK, Saijo K, Winner B, Marchetto MC, Gage FH (2010) Mechanisms underlying inflammation in neurodegeneration. Cell 140:918–934
Goedert M, Klug A, Crowther RA (2006) Tau protein, the paired helical filament and Alzheimer’s disease. J Alzheimers Dis 9:195–207
Heiss WD, Herholz K (2006) Brain receptor imaging. J Nucl Med 47:302–312
Hirsch EC, Vyas S, Hunot S (2012) Neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 18S1:S210–S212
Kabalka GW, Mereddy AR (2004) A facile no-carrier-added radioiodination procedure suitable for radiolabeling kits. Nucl Med Biol 31:935–938
Långström B, Karimi F, Watanabe Y (2013) Endogenous compounds labeled with radionuclides of short half-life – some perspectives. J Label Compd Radiopharm 2013(56):251–262
Li Z, Conti PS (2010) Radiopharmaceutical chemistry for positron emission tomography. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 62:1031–1051
Mankoff DA (2007) A definition of molecular imaging. J Nucl Med 48:18N and 21N
Någren K, Halldin C, Rinne JO (2010) Radiopharmaceuticals for positron emission tomography investigations of Alzheimer’s disease. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 37:1575–1593
Park BK, Kitteringham NR, O’Neill PM (2001) Metabolism of fluorine-containing drugs. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 41:443–470
Ruth TJ (2003) Accelerators available for isotope production. In: Welch MJ, Redvanley CS (eds) Handbook of radiopharmaceuticals, radiochemistry and applications. Weily, New York, pp 71–86
Schlyer DJ (2003) Production of radionuclides in accelerators. In: Welch MJ, REdvanley CS (eds) Handbook of radiopharmaceuticals, radiochemistry and applications. Weily, New York, pp 1–70
Vallabhajosula S (2009) Radiopharmaceuticals for PET and SPECT. Springer, Berlin
Vallabhajosula S (2011) Positron emission tomography radiopharmaceuticals for imaging brain beta-amyloid. Semin Nucl Med 41:283–299
Wadas TJ, Wong EH, Weisman GR, Anderson CJ (2010) Coordinating radiometals of copper, gallium, indium, yttrium and zirconium for PET and SPECT imaging of disease. Chem Rev 100(5):2858–2902
Wagner HN Jr, Burns HD, Dannals RF et al (1983) Imaging dopamine receptors in the human brain by positron tomography. Science 221(4617):1264–1266
Welch MJ, McCarthy TJ (2000) The potential role of generator-produced radiopharmaceuticals in clinical PET. J Nucl Med 41:315–317
Zimmer L, Luxen A (2012) PET radiotracers for molecular imaging in the brain: past, present and future. Neuroimage 61:363–370
Further Readings
Contino M, Cantore M, Leopoldo M, Colabufo NA (2013) Biomarkers for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: the challenge of XXI century. Adv Alzheimers Dis 2:13–30
Harada R, Okamura N, Furumoto S (2013) Comparison of the binding characteristics of [18F]THK-523 and other amyloid imaging tracers to Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 40:125–132
Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals, Special Issue: C-11 and F-18 chemistry devoted to molecular probes for imaging the brain with PET. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jlcr.v56.3-4/issuetoc
Kadir A, Nordberg A (2010) Target-specific PET probes for neurodegenerative disorders related to dementia. J Nucl Med 51:1418–1430
Kepe V, Bordelon Y, Boxer A (2013) PET Imaging of neuropathology in tauopathies: progressive supranuclear palsy. Alzheimers Dis 36:145–153
Kikuchi T, Okamura T, Zhang M-R, Irie T (2013) PET probes for imaging brain acetylcholinesterase. J Label Compd Radiopharm 56:172–179
Kilbourn MR (2013) PET radioligands for the vesicular transporters for monoamines and acetylcholine. J Label Compd Radiopharm 56:167–171
Majo VJ, Prabhakaran J, Mann JJ, Kumar JSD (2013) PET and SPECT glutamate receptors. Drug Discov Today 18(3/4):173–184
Mathis CA, Mason NS, Lopresti BJ, Klunk WE (2012) Development of positron emission tomography β-Amyloid plaque imaging agents. Semin Nucl Med 42:423–432
Moghbel MC, Saboury B, Basu S (2012) Amyloid-beta imaging with PET in Alzheimer’s disease: is it feasible with current radiotracers and technologies? Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 39:202–208
Molecular Imaging and Contrast Agent Database (MICAD). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Pysz MA, Gambhir SS, Willmann JK (2010) Molecular imaging: current status and emerging strategies. Clin Radiol 65:500–516
Riss PJ, Stockhofe K, Roesch F (2013) Tropane-derived 11C-labelled and 18F-labelled DAT ligands. J Label Compd Radiopharm 56:149–158
Rowe CC, Villemagne VL (2013) Amyloid imaging with PET in early Alzheimer disease diagnosis. Med Clin N Am 97:377–398
Serdons K, Verbruggen A, Bormans GM (2009) Developing new molecular imaging probes for PET. Methods 48:104–111
Sobrio F (2013) Radiosynthesis of carbon-11 and fluorine-18 labelled radiotracers to image the ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors. J Label Compd Radiopharm 56:180–186
Stehouwer JS, Goodman MM (2013) 11C and 18F PET radioligands for the serotonin transporter (SERT). J Label Compd Radiopharm 56:114–119
Vallabhajosula S, Solnes L, Vallabhajosula B (2011) A broad overview of positron emission tomography radiopharmaceuticals and clinical applications: what is new? Semin Nucl Med 41:246–264
Venneti S, Lopresti BJ, Wiley CA (2013) Molecular imaging of microglia/macrophages in the brain. GLIA 61:10–23
Villemagne VL, Furumoto S, Fodero-Tavoletti M (2012) The challenges of tau imaging. Future Neurol 7:409–421
Wadsak W, Mitterhauser M (2010) Basics and principles of radiopharmaceuticals for PET/CT. Eur J Radiol 73:461–469
Winkeler A, Boisgard R, Martin A, Tavitian B (2010) Radioisotopic imaging of neuroinflammation. J Nucl Med 51:1–4
Xia C-F, Arteaga J, Chen G (2013) [18F]T807, a novel tau positron emission tomography imaging agent for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer Dement 9(6):666–76
Zimmer L, Bars DL (2013) Current status of positron emission tomography radiotracers for serotonin receptors in humans. J Label Compd Radiopharm 56:105–113
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Vallabhajosula, S. (2014). Radiopharmaceuticals in Molecular Imaging. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_537-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_537-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences