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. This article summarizes recent PET and SPECT studies of new radiopharmaceuticals and discusses their potential role and perspectives for use in the fields of new drug development and early diagnosis for PD, as well to aid in differential diagnosis and monitoring of the progression of PD.