Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
Date (from‐to) : 2015/04 -2019/03
Author : Ishibashi Kenji; Ishii Kenji; Miura Yoshiharu
Imaging of type 1 metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR1) in living human brains has become possible using ITMM-PET. Because mGluR1 is expressed in Purkinje cells, ITMM-PET can estimate cerebellar function by targeting Purkinje cells.
ITMM-PET studies in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia suggest that mGluR1 expression in the cerebellum can correlate with the degree of ataxia, that ITMM-PET can detect abnormality in the cerebellum with higher sensitivity than MRI, that ITMM-PET can be more useful for estimating cerebellar function than FDG-PET, and that ITMM-PET may be a candidate biomarker for estimating future disease severity and also for the preclinical or early diagnosis of hereditary spinocerebellar ataxia.