ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the application of mathematical models to the analysis of radioligand uptake data obtained with positron emission tomography to enable the measurement of ligand-receptor binding kinetics. In conventional kinetic models, an organ consists of a number of compartments corresponding to the different states of a tracer. The compartments reflect the fate of the tracer and represent a specific theory of the biochemistry of an organ. The purpose of the kinetic analysis of tracer uptake is to measure the size of the compartments and the velocity of exchanges between the compartments. Certain tracers interact in some manner with the brain to escape the build-up in the interstitial fluid that leads to backflux and eventually to steady-state. The concentration of free ligand was estimated as the quantity of tracer in cerebellum at each dose of tracer raclopride injected.
