Neuroscience Research Institute, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Incheon, South Korea.
Neuroimage. 2012 Jan 16;59(2):1094-7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.09.036. Epub 2011 Sep 22.
The brainstem contains various important monoaminergic neuronal centers, including the raphe nuclei which contain serotonergic neurons. The raphe nuclei, however, are not easily identifiable and located by conventional neuroimaging.
Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed in seven healthy subjects using a new PET-MRI, which consists of a high-resolution research tomograph (HRRT) PET and 7.0 T-MRI. Glucose metabolism of raphe nuclei was semiquantitatively measured and identified along the midline brainstem region in vivo.
Midline nuclei clustered in four groups appeared to be the raphe nuclei and could be clearly visualized; specifically, we identified the groups as the dorsal raphe, raphe reticularis centralis superior, raphe pontis, and raphe magnus group.
FDG imaging of the midline raphe nuclei in vivo could potentially be an important tool for investigating brain diseases as well as conducting functional brain studies in the context of sleep disorders, depression, and neurodegenerative disease.
脑干包含各种重要的单胺能神经元中枢，包括含有 5-羟色胺能神经元的中缝核。然而，中缝核不容易通过常规神经影像学来识别和定位。
使用新的 PET-MRI（由高分辨率研究断层扫描仪[HRRT]PET 和 7.0T-MRI 组成），对 7 名健康受试者进行氟脱氧葡萄糖正电子发射断层扫描（PET）和磁共振成像（MRI）检查。在体内对中缝核的葡萄糖代谢进行半定量测量和识别。
中线上呈簇状排列的四个核团似乎是中缝核，可以清晰地显示出来；具体来说，我们将这些核团识别为背缝核、中缝网状核中央上区、桥脑缝核和巨细胞中缝核。
中缝核的 FDG 成像可能是研究脑疾病以及在睡眠障碍、抑郁和神经退行性疾病背景下进行功能性脑研究的重要工具。
