News Releases & Research Results Visualization of the AMPA receptor responsible for brain functions in the living human brain

News Releases & Research Results

Outline

The results of collaborative R&D conducted by Professor Takuya Takahashi and Associate Professor Tomoyuki Miyazaki of the Department of Physiology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, and Keio University School of Medicine.

The key results of R&D are as follows:

  • A tracer (compound) for positron emission tomography (PET) to visualize the AMPA receptor (*) , a molecule critical for brain function, in the living human brain was successfully developed.
    * A molecule critical for brain function, named for its ability to selectively accept an artificial amino acid AMPA.
  • The R&D achievements should facilitate the elucidation of the unknown pathogenic mechanisms of neuropsychiatric diseases and the development of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic methods based on the findings.
  • Currently, an investigator-initiated multicenter trial is being conducted at eight institutions nationwide, mainly the Yokohama City University Hospital, to obtain regulatory approval for epilepsy diagnostics with the tracer.

This R&D project was conducted with the support of Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences by AMED.

The R&D achievements were published in Nature Medicine on January 21.

Article

Takahashi T., et al. Visualization of AMPA receptors in living human brain with positron emission tomography Nature Medicine
DOI:10.1038/s41591-019-0723-9

01/21/20

Last updated 01/21/20