Mo_2014_Nucl.Med.Commun_35_135

There have been a number of attempts to study PET radioligands for imaging nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the human brain, and the most successful tracers found are radioligands for imaging alpha4beta2-nAChRs, which is the main cerebral nAChRs subtype. C-Nicotine and 2-[F]FA have been applied in many studies in humans. However, neither is entirely ideal and efforts have been made to develop radioligands with optimized imaging properties. Only a few reports have been published on radioligands for alpha7-nAChRs imaging, another important cerebral nAChRs subtype. This paper will review the development of PET radioligands for imaging cerebral nAChRs.