Drug development for neurodegenerative diseases: role of PET

There are few relevant animal models for neurodegenerative diseases to be u sed for human drug development. Most current drugs for neurodegenerative di seases act through different neurotransmitter systems. Positron emission to mography (PET) is a unique tool in the study of neurodegenerative diseases as it enables quantitative measurements of oxygen consumption, blood now, e nergy metabolism and functioning of various neurotransmitter systems. There are several possibilities in the use of PET in drug development. It is pos sible to radiolabel the drug itself or to study the effect of an unlabelled drug on blood now, energy metabolism or function of neurotransmitter syste ms. All these approaches have been used in drug development for neurodegene rative diseases. However, in spite of the important role of PET in pathophy siological studies of neurodegenerative diseases, thus far the versatile po ssibilities of PET in drug development for neurodegenerative diseases have not been fully exploited.