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NEUROLOGY

Imaging the glutamate synapse

Nature Medicine volume 26, pages 165–167 (2020)Cite this article

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A new positron emission tomography radiotracer enables imaging of the human glutamate receptor AMPA-R, a fundamental component of neurotransmission involved in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Radiotracers are essential to the non-invasive study of the regulation of molecular targets in the brain for the purposes of studying basic brain science, the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders, and novel therapeutics. However, many of the most important targets do not yet have radiotracers. In this issue of Nature Medicine, Miyazaki et al. report their development of a new positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer, [11C]K-2, for studying the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid glutamate receptor (AMPA-R)1.

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Fig. 1: A new PET radiotracer allows identification of the distribution of AMPA-Rs in the synapses of people with epilepsy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, and Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    John H. Krystal

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  1. John H. Krystal
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Correspondence to John H. Krystal.

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Competing interests

J.H.K. is supported by funds from the US Department of Veterans Affairs via its support of the National Center for PTSD, by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism via its support of the Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism (P50 AA021818), and the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) via its support for CTSA Grant Number UL1 TR001863. J.H.K. is a co-sponsor of a patent for the intranasal administration of ketamine for the treatment of depression and for the treatment of suicide risk that was licensed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals; has a patent related to the use of riluzole to treat anxiety disorders that was licensed by Biohaven Pharmaceuticals; has stock or stock options in Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Blackthorn Therapeutics, Luc Therapeutics, Cadent Pharmaceuticals, Terran Biosciences, Spring Healthcare, and Sage Pharmaceuticals; serves on the Board of Directors of Inheris Pharmaceuticals; leads two studies in which pharmaceutical companies (Cerevel Pharmaceuticals and Novartis) have provided access to drugs without charge; has received, over the past 3 years, over US$5,000 in compensation for consulting to Sunovion, Takeda, Novartis, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and receives over US$5,000 in income from the Society of Biological Psychiatry in compensation for serving as editor of the journal Biological Psychiatry.

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Krystal, J.H. Imaging the glutamate synapse. Nat Med 26, 165–167 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0760-4

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