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Principles of PET and Its Role in Understanding Drug Delivery to the Brain

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Drug Delivery to the Brain

Part of the book series: AAPS Advances in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Series ((AAPS,volume 10))

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Abstract

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a non-invasive medical imaging technique that enables the investigation of drug pharmacokinetics in vivo. The technique is especially powerful for pharmacokinetic studies of new CNS drug candidates as tissue samples from the brain are understandably difficult to obtain. The PET technique involves the administration of a radiolabelled molecule whose spatio-temporal distribution can be measured using tomography. The radiolabelled molecule can be the drug under investigation, a structurally different molecule that binds to the same target as the drug candidate or a molecule that interacts with a downstream target that is believed to be affected by the action of the drug candidate. Such radiolabelled probes allow PET to address several questions central for CNS drug development: Does the drug candidate reach the target site? Does the drug candidate interact with the desired target? Is the concentration of the drug at the target site sufficient to illicit an effect? What is the temporal nature of such an interaction? What is the relationship between the target site concentration and the administered dose and/or plasma concentrations?

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Stina Syvänen

  2. Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Roger N. Gunn

  3. Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Roger N. Gunn

  4. Imanova, London, UK

    Roger N. Gunn

Authors
  1. Stina Syvänen
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  2. Roger N. Gunn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stina Syvänen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University Pharmacokinetics and Drug Therapy, Uppsala, Sweden

    Margareta Hammarlund-Udenaes

  2. LACDR/Pharmacology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Elizabeth C.M. de Lange

  3. Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Robert G. Thorne

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© 2014 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists

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Syvänen, S., Gunn, R.N. (2014). Principles of PET and Its Role in Understanding Drug Delivery to the Brain. In: Hammarlund-Udenaes, M., de Lange, E., Thorne, R. (eds) Drug Delivery to the Brain. AAPS Advances in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Series, vol 10. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9105-7_8

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