Patent ID: 8562950

Claim:
An in vivo imaging method for use in the determination of whether a subject has or is predisposed to late-onset depression, said method comprising the steps of: (i) administering an in vivo imaging agent to said subject, wherein said in vivo imaging agent comprises a compound that selectively associates with a polynucleotide or polypeptide, said polynucleotide or polypeptide being encoded by a GABAergic receptor gene, and wherein said compound is labelled with an in vivo imaging moiety; (ii) allowing said in vivo imaging agent to selectively associate with said polynucleotide and/or said polypeptide expressed in a tissue of said subject; (iii) detecting by an in vivo imaging method signals emitted by said in vivo imaging moiety; and, (iv) generating an image representative of the location and/or amount of said signals wherein said brain tissue is in the anterior cingulate and said GABAergic receptor gene is a gene encoding GABAA receptor subunit γ1 (GABRG1); GABAA receptor subunit ρ1 (GABRR1); or GABAB receptor 2 (GABBR2); or, wherein said brain tissue is in the nucleus accumbens and said GABAergic receptor gene is a gene encoding GABAA receptor subunit α4 (GABRA4); GABAA receptor subunit β3 (GABRB3); or GABAA receptor subunit γ2 (GABRG2).