Positron Emission Tomography in Psychopharmacology

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) represents a major advance in neuroimaging techniques enabling for the first time the quantitative acquisition of in. vivo pharmacological information in humans. This review will outline the range of its applications as a pharmacological tool with specific reference to its use in the measurement of neuroreceptors and in pharmacodynamic studies. A new and potentially more exciting application of PET is in pharmacological challenge combined with cognitive activation paradigms. The key issues in the design and implementation of this latter approach are detailed.