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interest and it showed a better capacity to be depicted by PET in vivo ; in an animal model of AD, PET
[44]
images clearly showed COX-1 expression in activated microglia during the formation of amyloid plaques .
[41]
PET imaging of COX-1, according to these preclinical studies, could be a promising approach for monitoring
activated microglia in CNS diseases such as AD .
[31]
Neuroinflammation plays a crucial role in the development of neurodegenerative disorders. The information
extracted from molecular imaging of inflammation in the CNS could be fundamental for understanding
the causes and effects of this entity, its relationship with various pathogens and other stimuli, and could be
crucial in disease diagnosis, prognosis and in future therapies response monitoring. More specific biomarkers
have to be identified and more sensitive imaging probes must be developed to improve visualization and
quantification of the inflammatory processes and to better understand and characterize the interactions
between neurotropic pathogens, neuroinflammatory pathways, and autophagic neural cell death and the
CNS disorders progression.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
Worked on the first part of the article: Cellina M
Worked on the part of new perspectives: Orsi M

Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.

Financial support and sponsorship
None.

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2018.

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