PET scans monitor brain circuits activated by light, opening
new window to brain diseases
Building on their history of innovative brain-imaging
techniques, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National
Laboratory and collaborators have developed a new way to use light and
chemistry to map brain activity in fully-awake, moving animals. The technique
employs light-activated proteins to stimulate particular brain cells and
positron emission tomography (PET) scans to trace the effects of that
site-specific stimulation throughout the entire brain. As described in a paper
published online today in the Journal of Neuroscience, the method will allow
researchers to map exactly which downstream neurological pathways are activated
or deactivated by stimulation of targeted brain regions, and how that brain
activity correlates with particular behaviors and/or disease conditions.