PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jennifer M. Coughlin
AU  - Leah H. Rubin
AU  - Yong Du
AU  - Steven P. Rowe
AU  - Jeffrey L. Crawford
AU  - Hailey B. Rosenthal
AU  - Sarah M. Frey
AU  - Erica S. Marshall
AU  - Laura K. Shinehouse
AU  - Allen Chen
AU  - Caroline L. Speck
AU  - Yuchuan Wang
AU  - Wojciech G. Lesniak
AU  - Il Minn
AU  - Arnold Bakker
AU  - Vidyulata Kamath
AU  - Gwenn S. Smith
AU  - Marilyn S. Albert
AU  - Babak Behnam Azad
AU  - Robert F. Dannals
AU  - Andrew Horti
AU  - Dean F. Wong
AU  - Martin G. Pomper
TI  - High Availability of the α7-Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor in Brains of Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study Using <sup>18</sup>F-ASEM PET
AID  - 10.2967/jnumed.119.230979
DP  - 2020 Mar 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine
PG  - 423--426
VI  - 61
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/61/3/423.short
4100  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/61/3/423.full
SO  - J Nucl Med2020 Mar 01; 61
AB  - Emerging evidence supports a hypothesized role for the α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7-nAChR) in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease. 18F-ASEM (3-(1,4-diazabicyclo[3.2.2]nonan-4-yl)-6-18F-fluorodibenzo[b,d]thiophene 5,5-dioxide) is a radioligand for estimating the availability of α7-nAChR in the brain in vivo with PET. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 14 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a prodromal stage to dementia, and 17 cognitively intact, elderly controls completed 18F-ASEM PET. For each participant, binding in each region of interest was estimated using Logan graphical analysis with a metabolite-corrected arterial input function. Results: Higher 18F-ASEM binding was observed in MCI patients than in controls across all regions, supporting higher availability of α7-nAChR in MCI. 18F-ASEM binding was not associated with verbal memory in this small MCI sample. Conclusion: These data support use of 18F-ASEM PET to examine further the relationship between α7-nAChR availability and MCI.