小动物PET及其在生物医学研究中的应用

Small animal PET and its applications in biomedical research

通过对正电子核素标记的示踪分子参与活体的生理生化过程进行PET,能够从分子水平反映活体的生理生化变化。PET作为目前核医学诊断和研究最先进的分子显像方法,已从临床应用推广到了小动物科学实验。近几年来,随着新的探测技术的不断涌现,专门用于小动物显像的PET扫描仪的各项性能日臻完善,它正逐渐成为现代生物医学研究的一项重要工具。小动物PET将在药物寻找和开发、疾病研究、基因显像等领域发挥重要作用。

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medical imaging technique that permits the use of positron-labeled molecular imaging probes for non-invasive assays of biochemical processes. As the leading technology in nuclear medicine, PET has extended its applications from the clinical field to the study of small laboratory animals. In recent years, the development of new detector technology has dramatically im-proved the spatial resolution and image quality of small animal PET scanner, which is being used increasing-ly as a basic tool in modern biomedical research. In particular, small animal PET will play an important role in drug discovery and development, in the study of small animal models of human diseases, in characterizing gene expression and in many other ways.