New perspectives in nuclear neurology for the evaluation of Parkinson's disease.

The pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) has not yet been completely elucidated. However, during the past few years, significant progress has been made in understanding the intra- and extracellular mechanisms by which proteins such as alpha-synuclein and neuroinflammatory molecules may display impaired function and/or expression in PD. Recent developments in imaging techniques based on positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) now allow the non-invasive tracking of such molecular targets of known relevance to PD in vivo.

New molecular targets for PET and SPECT imaging in neurodegenerative diseases.

The pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases (ND) such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) has not yet been completely elucidated. However, in the past few years, there have been great knowledge advances about intra-and extracellular proteins that may display impaired function or expression in AD, PD and other ND, such as amyloid beta (Aβ), α-synuclein, tau protein and neuroinflammatory markers. Recent developments in the imaging techniques of positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) now allow the non-invasive tracking of such molecular targets of known relevance to ND in vivo.