Sleep and Neuroimaging / 대한핵의학회잡지

ABSTRACT

We spend about one-third of our lives either sleeping or attempting to sleep. Therefore, the socioeconomic implications of sleepdisorders may be higher than expected. However, the fundamental mechanisms and functions of sleep are not yet fully understood.Neuroimaging has been utilized to reveal the connectivity between sleep and the brain, which is associated with thephysiology of sleep. Positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imagingstudies have become increasingly common in sleep research. Recently, significant progress has been made in understanding thephysiology of sleep through neuroimaging and the use of various radiopharmaceuticals, as the sleep–wake cycle is regulated bymultiple neurotransmitters, including dopamine, adenosine, glutamate, and others. In addition, the characteristics of rapid eye andnon-rapid eye movement sleep have been investigated by measuring cerebral glucose metabolism. The physiology of sleep hasbeen investigated using PET to study glymphatic function as a means to clear the amyloid burden. However, the basic mechanismsand functions of sleep are not yet fully understood. Further studies are needed to investigate the effects and consequencesof chronic sleep deprivation, and the relevance of sleep to other diseases.