• Our purpose is to expand and deepen the understanding of brain functions by using molecular imaging technology. For the time being, we have been mainly using PET, but other technologies such as optical imaging and MRI are also important in our research for brain mysteries.
• We will nurture young people to acquire the expertise of these technologies, which is an important mission of the university.
• We will carry out translational research in which the findings obtained from basic experiments can be applied clinically and help promote social welfare, and problems in the clinical setting are in turn solved by the basic research.

What is PET?

PET is an abbreviation for Positron Emission Tomography, with which the biodistribution of injected compounds labeled with positron-emitting nuclides is visualized on a two-dimensional or three-dimensional image. A positron emitted from the nuclide produced by the ion-accelerator device cyclotron is an antimatter electron; it has the same rest mass as an electron, but a positive charge. When the positron, once emitted, travels several millimeters in tissue and meets up with a free electron located the closest to it, mutual annihilation happens and two 511 keV γ-rays are emitted there 180 degrees back-to-back. Detecting these two paired γ-rays with PET is the first step to make a quantitative image of the distribution of the positron-emitting compound applied in the body. Thus, unlike other conventional radiological imaging devices, PET is a system comprising in a cyclotron for radionuclide production, a chemistry unit for synthesizing radiocompounds and a PET operating computer. As such, PET is a product of an orchestrated knowledge from digital imaging technology, physics, nuclear chemistry, pharmacology and medicine. Since cyclotron-produced positron-emitting nuclides (11C, 13N, 15O) are biochemically indistinguishable from their natural nuclides, it is possible to obtain physiological and biochemical information in vivo by applying water, oxygen, glucose and amino acid that are all labeled with these positron-emitting nuclides. Thus, PET is now an essential tool in our center.

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Distribution of serotonin transporters in the human brain