Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Online ISSN : 1347-5223
Print ISSN : 0009-2363
ISSN-L : 0009-2363
Review
Development of Positron-Emission Tomography/Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography Imaging Probes for in Vivo Detection of β-Amyloid Plaques in Alzheimer's Brains
Masahiro Ono
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2009 Volume 57 Issue 10 Pages 1029-1039

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Abstract

Currently, the development of radiotracers for in vivo imaging of β-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains is an important, active area of molecular imaging. Postmortem brains of AD patients reveal neuropathologic features: the presence of β-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which contain β-amyloid peptides and highly phosphorylated tau proteins. Increases in the concentration of β-amyloid in the course of the disease lead to changes in AD brains. Thus, when used in combination with positron-emission tomography/single-photon emission computed tomography (PET/SPECT), β-amyloid imaging agents could serve as surrogate markers for the early diagnosis and neuropathogenetic studies of AD. Furthermore, quantitative evaluation of β-amyloid plaques in the brain could facilitate the evaluation of the efficacy of antiamyloid therapies that are currently being investigated. This paper reviews our research on the development of PET/SPECT imaging agents for in vivo detection of β-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's brains.

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© 2009 The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan
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