Bioimaging of Neuroimmune Disorders: Physical Principles of Neuroimaging Modalities and Clinical Applications

A wide range of bioimaging techniques have been applied to evaluate and study the neuroimmune aspects of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The development of reconstruction and visualization techniques for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as well as novel radiotracers for positron emission tomography (PET), enhanced their applications in this field. In this chapter, we provide a brief introduction to the neuroimaging techniques used to evaluate neuroimmune-mediated pathology in the brain. We will first discuss the general physical principles and some limitations of each modality. We will also briefly discuss the neuroimaging findings from various modalities or techniques for several neurological and psychiatric disorders, including those from viral infections, neurodegenerative diseases, substance use disorders, and chronic pain. This chapter illustrates how various imaging techniques can assess neuropathology, provide insights regarding mechanisms of disease, monitor disease progression, and assess treatment efficacies.