Napapon Sailasuta1, Thao T. Tran1,2,
Brian D. Ross1,2
1Huntington Medical Research
Institutes, Pasadena, CA, United States; 2Rudi Schulte Research
Institute, Santa Barbara , CA, United States
Cognitive
function in humans is currently imaged in real time only with radioactive PET
or with task-driven fMRI. True
molecular imaging on the underlying neurochemical events, here ascribed
predominantly to glutamate neurotransmission, has been developed using non-radioactive,
stable carbon isotopes infused intravenously and selectively taken up and
metabolized by EITHER neurons or glia, in frontal brain (a totally novel
application relevant to imaging of cognition) and in posterior brain. The tests have been evaluated in more than
20 normal human subjects and several prototypical disorders of cognition with
promising results which complement or replace PET.