One of the uses of this technology is that it allows quantitative evaluation of molecular changes in human bodies induced by drug treatment, to be represented as an image. As such, data about the optimal capacity of a therapeutic agent, in other words, data on the optimal balance between a drug's efficacy and its adverse effects of the drug, can now be evaluated quantitatively in the human body. at an individual level. As a result, Dr. Tateno suggests that “where a drug's optimal capacity was once determined by analysing blood concentration levels and pharmacological properties, it can now be determined more scientifically by analysing its actual in vivo drug effect in human bodies.”

The Department of Psychiatry of Nippon Medical School (NMS) is one of the leading departments in Japan that conducts molecular imaging experiments on the pathogenesis and the early diagnosis of mental illness. The research is carried out using positron- emission tomography (PET) at the Medical Checkup Center of NMS.

To date, Dr. Tateno’s research team has made several scientific breakthroughs in their studies on Alzheimer’s disease, as well as other diseases.

It is widely known that beta amyloid proteins (Aβ) are the components of deposits found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. However, there is currently no testing approach that can provide a quantitative diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease while patients are alive., Autopsies have to be conducted in order to verify the status of Aβ deposits in such patients' brains. In future however, with the use of this molecular imaging technique, doctors will be able to directly verify the status of Aβ deposits in the brain of a patient with an Alzheimer’s disease.

“When patients are administered with the test agent that binds to Aβ in the brain, the deposits where Aβ is accumulated will show a distinct green stain when molecular imaging is applied,” says Dr. Tateno. The A comparison between patients with Alzheimer’s disease and healthy individuals showed there was a significant difference in the amount and brightness of the green stains when imaged .

This finding suggests that in future, “doctors will be able to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, by combining a qualitative approach based on evaluating patients’ symptoms, with a quantitative approach using molecular imaging technology for the detection of Aβ and its accumulation status in patients’ brains,” says Dr. Tateno.