Work

Seeing how we smell

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: PET allows noninvasive imaging of a variety of events in the body, including the activity of neuronal circuits in the brain that are involved in cognition and behaviors, by using radiotracers that detect relevant biological reactions. A major impediment to expanding PET applications to study the brain has been the lack of radiotracers that can identify and measure specific types of neurons or glial cells. In this issue of the JCI, Van de Bittner and colleagues describe a promising step toward solving this problem by identifying and describing a radiotracer, [11C]GV1-57, that appears to specifically label olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs), which are essential for olfaction (Figure 1). This tracer, if its specificity is confirmed, has the potential to become a prototype for future radiotracers that can identify other neuronal cell types and would allow visualization and in-depth characterization of these neurons and their genesis.

Source: Journal of Clinical Investigation

DOI: 10.1172/jci91305

Authors: Helene Benveniste, Yuri Lazebnik, Nora D. Volkow

Institutions: Yale University, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Language: English

Topic: Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies

Subfield: Sensory Systems

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Awards: Glymphatic function in a transgenic rat model of Alzheimer's disease, Para-Vascular Basis of Small Vessel Disease