Progress in the application of molecular imaging in psychiatric disorders

Abstract

Psychiatric disorders have always attracted a lot of attention from researchers due to the difficulties in their diagnoses and treatments. Molecular imaging, as an emerging technology, has played an important role in the researchers of various diseases. In recent years, molecular imaging techniques including magnetic resonance spectroscopy, nuclear medicine imaging, and fluorescence imaging have been widely used in the study of psychiatric disorders. This review will briefly summarize the progression of molecular imaging in psychiatric disorders.

Keywords: fluorescent molecular probe; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; molecular imaging; positron emission computed tomography; psychiatric disorders; single photon emission computed tomography.

Figure 1:

The voxel placements (ACC, anterior cingulate cortex; Ins, left insula; and Vis, visual cortex) on the brain of all patients; Illustrative spectra with baseline and residuals from a voxel located in the ACC of subjects from three groups and corresponding fits for Gln, Glu, and glutathione (Kumar et al., 2020).

Figure 2:

The placement of voxels in the axial, coronal, and sagittal views of the hippocampus and MRS spectral fitting of hippocampus position of a single patient (Kaldewaij et al., 2021).

Figure 3:

GABA⁺ data were fitted using MEGAPRESS and T₁-weighted structural images to show the location of voxels in the: (A) medial prefrontal cortex, (B) right anterior insula, and (C) right temporal cortex (Rosso et al., 2022).

Figure 4:

Voxel position: quantifying metabolite levels in the four voxels in the former white matter, showing sagittal, coronal, and cross-sectional views of each voxel (Tannous et al., 2021). AWM denotes prewhite matter.

Figure 5:

Reduced amygdala [¹¹C] AFM BPND in PTSD patients compared to healthy participants (Murrough et al., 2011).

Figure 6:

Reaction of near infrared fluorescent probe ACy7 with O₃. [104]