Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of amyloid β and tau

Abstract

It is well known that the brain is one of the organs particularly affected by aging in terms of function, relative to the gastrointestinal tract and liver, which exhibit less functional decline. There is also a wide range of age–related neurological disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and Parkinson's disease. Therefore, it is very important to understand the relationship between functional age–related change and neurological dysfunction. Neuroimaging techniques including magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography (PET) have been significantly improved over recent years. Many physicians and researchers have investigated various mechanisms of age–related cerebral change and associated neurological disorders using neuroimaging and biochemical techniques. In this session, we would like to focus on neuroimaging and biomarkers, which are a range of tools used to visualize structure, functions, and pathogenic molecules in the nervous system. Concerning the neuroimaging in neurological disorders especially AD, “amyloid β (Aβ)” and “tau” are believed to be key molecules in its pathomechanism. With this background, molecular imaging techniques using PET to visualize Aβ and tau in the living humans are now drastically advancing. We are discussing here about several new findings concerning neuroimaging modalities and fluid biomarkers of neurological diseases causing dementia.