| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NAGAMINE T. Kyoto Univ. Faculty of Med. Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (10231490)
TAMAKI N. Kyoto Univ. Faculty of Med. Lecturer, 医学部, 講師 (30171888)
MAGATA Y. Kyoto Univ. Faculty of Med. Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (20209399)
SAJI H. Kyoto Univ. Faculty of Pharm. Assoc. Prof, 薬学部, 助教授 (40115853)
ITO H. Kyoto Univ. Faculty of Med. Assoc. Prof., 医学部, 助教授 (40026943)
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| Research Abstract |
In order to understand the complicated higher function of the human brain and its disorders in various diseases, it is important to have a multidisciplinary approach from different fields of basic and clinical sciences. Recently introduced new imaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) not only provide with valuable information as a clinical diagnostic tool but also serve as an essential method to understand the higher brain function and its deterioration. The aim of this study is to construct an integrative system to understand the higher brain function, combining functional images by means of the radionuclide approach, morphological images, and electrophysiological measurement.
During the past two years, we have made devoted our effort to establish each method and then developed an integrated system to combine these methods. By applying these techniques for various diseases, we have clarified the alteration of cerebral circulation and metabolism as well as electrophysiological changes in cases with impaired brain function. These results also clarified the necessity of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for wide clinical use, and several new radiotracers have been developed for SPECT measurement of regional blood flow, metabolism and neurotransmission process. For the analysis of functional images obtained by PET and SPECT, we have developed a three dimensional image analysis system using a Macintosh based computer system, which enables to display and analyze these functional images superimposed on MRI data in each individual subject. The system permits to identify the physiological response in regional cerebral blood flow by neuronal activation.
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