Progress of PET imaging in Schizophrenia

PET is an important functional neuroimaging technique that can be used to assessment of cerebral metabolic activity and blood flow and identifies the distribution of important neurotransmitters in the human brain. Compared with other conventional imaging techniques, PET enables regional cerebral glucose metabolism, blood flow, dopaminergic and serotonergic receptor function to be assessed qualitatively and quantitatively. In recent years, PET increasingly being used greatly to advance our understanding of the neurobiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia. This review focuses on the use of PET tracers in identifying regional brain abnormalities and regions associated with cognitive functioning in schizophrenia.