Small Gary W, Kepe Vladimir, Barrio Jorge R
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Alzheimer's Disease Center, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA.
Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2006 Nov;19(6):564-9. doi: 10.1097/01.yco.0000245747.53008.e2.
Recent technological developments in neuroimaging have led to new technologies that provide measures of the cerebral pathology of neurodegeneration in living humans. The purpose of this review is to provide background behind these developments and update readers on new findings.
Several imaging methods using positron emission tomography have provided measures of amyloid senile plaques in the brain of demented patients and patients with early memory symptoms. ([F-18]FDDNP)-positron emission tomography provides measures of both amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Initial results indicate that the pattern of binding values in Alzheimer's disease is consistent with the known neuropathology from autopsy studies, and patients with mild cognitive impairment, who are at risk of Alzheimer's disease, show binding values intermediate between Alzheimer's disease and normal aging. 2-(1-{6-[(2-[F-18]Fluoroethyl)(methyl)amino]-2-naphthyl}ethylidene)malononitrile ([F-18]FDDNP) positron emission tomography also shows a pattern of neuropathology distribution for frontotemporal dementia that differs from that of Alzheimer's disease.
In-vivo imaging of cerebral pathology offers the potential for more effective and earlier diagnosis and use of these technologies as surrogate markers to test novel treatments aimed at preventing or eliminating cerebral plaque and tangle accumulation.
神经影像学领域最近的技术发展催生了一些新技术，这些技术能够对活体人类神经退行性变的脑病理学特征进行测量。本综述旨在介绍这些技术发展背后的背景知识，并向读者更新新的研究发现。
几种使用正电子发射断层扫描的成像方法已能测量痴呆患者及有早期记忆症状患者大脑中的淀粉样老年斑。（[F-18]FDDNP）-正电子发射断层扫描可同时测量淀粉样斑块和神经原纤维缠结。初步结果表明，阿尔茨海默病的结合值模式与尸检研究中已知的神经病理学特征一致，而有患阿尔茨海默病风险的轻度认知障碍患者的结合值介于阿尔茨海默病患者和正常衰老者之间。2-（1-{6-[(2-[F-18]氟乙基）（甲基）氨基]-2-萘基}亚乙基）丙二腈（[F-18]FDDNP）正电子发射断层扫描还显示了额颞叶痴呆的神经病理学分布模式与阿尔茨海默病不同。
脑病理学的活体成像为更有效、更早期的诊断提供了可能，并有望将这些技术用作替代标志物，以测试旨在预防或消除脑斑块和缠结积聚的新型治疗方法。
