Introduction An [18F] labeled PET amyloid (Aβ) imaging agent could facilitate clinical evaluation of late-life cognitive impairment by providing an objective measure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology. Here we present the results of the first clinical trial with [18F]AV-45 (Florbetapir F 18). Methods An open-label, multicenter, brain imaging, metabolism and safety study of [18F]AV-45 was performed on 16 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD: MMSE 19.3 +/− 3.1; Age 75.8 +/− 9.2) and 16 cognitively healthy controls (HC: MMSE 29.8 +/− 0.45; Age 72.5 +/− 11.6 ). Dynamic PET imaging was performed over a period of approximately 90 minutes following 10 mCi injection of the tracer. Standard uptake values (SUV) and cortical to cerebellum SUV ratios (SUVR) were calculated. A simplified reference tissue method was used to generate distribution volume ratio (DVR) parametric maps in a subset of subjects Results Valid PET imaging data were available for 11 AD and 15 HC subjects [18F]AV-45 accumulated in cortical regions expected to be high in amyloid deposition (e.g., precuneus, frontal and temporal cortex) of AD patients; minimal accumulation of tracer was seen in cortical regions of HC subjects. The cortical to cerebellar SUVR values in AD patients showed continual substantial increases through 30 minutes post-administration, reaching a plateau within 50 minutes. The 10 minute period from 50–60 minutes post administration was taken as a representative sample for further analysis. The cortical average SUVR for this period was 1.67 +/− 0.175 for patients with AD vs. 1.25 +/− 0.177 for HC subjects. Spatially normalized DVRs generated from PET dynamic scans were highly correlated with SUVR (r= 0.58–0.88, p<0.005) and were significantly greater for AD patients than for HC subjects in cortical regions, but not in subcortical white matter or cerebellar regions. There were no clinically significant changes in vital signs, ECG or laboratory values. Conclusions [18F]AV-45 was well tolerated and PET imaging showed significant discrimination between AD patients and HC subjects using either a parametric reference region method (DVR) or a simplified SUVR calculated from 10 minutes of scanning 50–60 minutes after [18F]AV-45 administration.

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an often debilitating mental illness that is characterized by recurrent distressing memories of traumatic events. PTSD is associated with hypoactivity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), hyperactivity in the amygdala and reduced volume in the hippocampus, but it is unknown whether these neuroimaging findings reflect the underlying cause or a secondary effect of the disorder. To investigate the causal contribution of specific brain areas to PTSD symptoms, we studied a unique sample of Vietnam War veterans who suffered brain injury and emotionally traumatic events. We found a substantially reduced occurrence of PTSD among those individuals with damage to one of two regions of the brain: the vmPFC and an anterior temporal area that included the amygdala. These results suggest that the vmPFC and amygdala are critically involved in the pathogenesis of PTSD.