Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the protein aggregates amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau has transformed Alzheimer disease (AD) research. Validating PET radiopharmaceuticals for this purpose is a complicated undertaking, requiring initial in vitro and animal studies that define binding affinity, selectivity, and pharmacokinetics. The most convincing and final stage of validation is the comparison between ligand behavior in a PET scan taken during life and the postmortem neuropathological examination. Such projects, entailing the recruitment of terminally ill individuals with a spectrum of dementing disorders and normal cognition, have successfully demonstrated that currently available amyloid PET imaging radiopharmaceuticals are sensitive and specific for the detection of Aβ and have led to their approval by US and international regulatory agencies.

正电子发射断层扫描（PET）成像的蛋白质聚集淀粉样β（Aβ）和tau改变了阿尔茨海默病（AD）的研究。为此目的，验证PET放射性药物是一项复杂的工作，需要初步的体外和动物研究来确定结合亲和力，选择性和药代动力学。验证的最有说服力和最后一个阶段是一生中进行的PET扫描中的配体行为与死后神经病理学检查之间的比较。这些项目需要招募患有一系列痴呆症和正常认知的绝症患者，