Development of PET probes to detect synaptic proteins

We developed PET (positron emission tomography) probe recognizing AMPA receptors. We will be able to visualize AMPA receptors in living human with this technique. A number of studies with rodent have revealed that AMPA receptors play crucial roles in neuronal functions such as learning and memory.
Since we do not have techniques to visualize AMPA receptors in living human, we could not categorize neuronal diseases with the distribution of AMPA receptors.