The application of neuroimaging techniques to drug development

Neuroimaging is a powerful and innovative tool for studying the pathology of psychiatric diseases and, more recently, for studying the drugs used in their treatment. Technological advances in imaging have made it possible to noninvasively extract information from the human brain regarding a drug's mechanism and site of action. Until now, our understanding of human brain pharmacology has depended primarily on indirect assessments or models derived from animal studies. However, the advent of multiple techniques for human brain imaging allows researchers to focus directly on human pharmacology and brain function. This review outlines available neuroimaging techniques and examines how these various methods have already been applied to the drug development process, as well as how they might be applied in the future.