In seven sessions of 2x45 minutes each, the course will cover the broad topic of the neuropsychopharmacological of mental disorders and of the methods used for this such molecular brain imaging, in particular  positron emission tomography (PET), with a brief mention of single photon emission tomography (SPECT). The past 50 years have seen enormous progress in understanding brain function by imaging of radioactive molecules in brain; beginning as a research tool for studying the rates of cerebral blood flow and energy metabolism in brain, PET is now indispensable for clinical diagnostics via nuclear medicine.  At the same time, the diversity of molecular targets amenable to study by PET has grown enormously through the efforts of medicinal chemists around the world. In this course, we shall emphasize the applications and principal findings of PET in important neuropsychiatric disorders, and in relation to personality theory. As may arise in the various lectures, we shall consider the implications of hybrid imaging with PET and magnetic resonance imaging.

1. Principals of PET, radionuclide generation, and introduction to radiochemistry and the classic cases of FDG for measuring cerebral blood flow and glucose metabolism. A brief mention of single photon emission tomography (SPECT).
2. What determines the rate of glucose metabolism in illness and health? We operate somewhere between anesthesia and seizure states.
3. The metabolic and neurochemical markers of Alzheimer’s disease.
4. Aspects of brain dopamine, i.e.., dopamine synthesis, neuroreceptors, transporters; the case of Parkinson’s disease.
5. PET studies of psychostimulant action.
6. The dopamine system in psychotic disorders.
7. Aspects of brain serotonin, i.e., synthesis, neuroreceptors, transporters;  the case of major depression disorder.
8. Findings in bipolar disorder.
9. Findings in ADHD.
10. Substance abuse and dependence.
11. Psychedelic PET.
12. The neurochemistry of personality.
13. Inflammation of the brain.
14. Problems with PET and its future as a tool for brain research.

Examination will consist of a written response to one key topic from each of the 14 lectures. In two-four sentences, the student will write a brief and qualitative commentary on the questions. For example, the question for lecture 1 might call for a brief description of the principle underlying the quantitation of brain energy metabolism by FDG-PET, with provision of a representative example in the context of neuropsychiatry.