Positron emission tomography (PET), to say the least, is becoming quite the handy tool in medical imaging.
Over the last couple of years, PET’s capabilities in helping to determine the appropriate level of cancer treatment and therapy have become well known and increasingly utilized. More recently, researchers are employing PET imaging and radiotracers to learn more about how the brain functions and why we act and behave the way we do.
Some of the more novel research comes from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, N.Y.), where researchers are using PET imaging to uncover neurological characteristics of addictions and behavioral disorders.
With the assistance of PET imaging, researchers can label a wide variety of compounds, which helps the investigator answers specific questions about brain biochemistry and function in living human subjects non-invasively.
In one study, PET is utilized to image changes in the brain of a person who is addicted to a drug and what leads to a person’s lack of control over the intake of that drug.
The key to a person’s behavior is a chemical in the brain known as dopamine. Recent findings show that the level of dopamine in a person’s brain helps direct one’s behavior for survival, such as when to eat, as well as when to administer drugs.
The dopamine cell “liberates” the chemical, says Nora Volkow, M.D., Brookhaven’s associate laboratory director for life sciences, and that signal is transmitted throughout the brain by receptors. The receptors are “the keys that open the door” and help trigger a person’s behavior.
Please refer to the October 2001 issue for the complete story. For information on article reprints, contact Martin St. Denis
