Research advances on molecular imaging probes for Alzheimer disease

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Amyloid beta-peptides (Aβ) deposition and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) formed by hyperphosphorylated Tau protein are the pathological features of the disease. In the past two decades, molecular imaging probes have made great progress in the diagnosis and treatment of AD, and have perfomred the important role beyond traditional cerebral perfusion and glucose metabolism imaging. Molecular imaging probes which specifically bind to Aβ or NFT can become valuable tools for accurate and early diagnosis of AD, and have been proposed as biomarkers in the recently revised clinical diagnostic criteria. In this paper, the research status and advances of Aβ and NFT molecular imaging probes are reviewed.