Radiolabelled Molecules for Brain Imaging with PET and SPECT

Dear Colleagues,

Positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are in vivo molecular imaging tools which are widely used in nuclear medicine for the diagnosis and treatment follow-up of many brain diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, psychiatric syndromes, such as major depression and schizophrenia, or brain tumors, with glioblastoma multiforme as the most aggressive type of brain-derived cancers. The success of PET and SPECT imaging very much depends on the suitability of imaging probes, which are labeled with radionuclides of short half-lives. The delivery of those radiotracers to the brain and their subsequent quantification with PET and SPECT provides images of biochemical processes such as transport, metabolism, and neurotransmission on the molecular level. In addition to the diagnostic and therapeutic use as radiopharmaceuticals, in the field of nuclear medicine, they provide powerful tools for in vivo pharmacology during the process of preclinical drug development to identify new drug targets, to investigate the pathophysiology, to discover potential drug candidates, and to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs in vivo. Furthermore, they allow molecular imaging studies in various small-animal models of disease, including genetically-engineered animals.

All researchers working in this very interdisciplinary field are cordially invited to contribute original research papers or reviews to this Special Issue of Molecules, which is related to the development and use of radiolabeled molecules for brain imaging.

Prof. Dr. Peter Brust
Guest Editor

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