Fig. 2: Constructing a cortical neurotransmitter receptor and transporter atlas.

PET maps for 19 different neurotransmitter receptors and transporters were z-scored and collated into a single neurotransmitter receptor atlas. a, For each pair of brain regions, the receptor density profiles are correlated (Pearsonʼs r) to construct the receptor similarity matrix (ordered according to the Yeo–Krienen intrinsic networks: frontoparietal, default mode, dorsal attention, limbic, ventral attention, somatomotor and visual²³). b, Receptor similarity is approximately normally distributed. c, Receptor similarity decays exponentially with the Euclidean distance between centroid coordinates of brain regions. d, The first principal component of receptor density. e, The first principal gradient of receptor density stratified by classes of laminar differentiation reveals a gradient from idiotypic regions to paralimbic regions (one-way ANOVA F = 15.82, P = 1.95 × 10⁻⁸; PLMB, paralimbic; HET, heteromodal; UNI, unimodal; IDT, idiotypic)¹⁷. f, The principal receptor gradient is significantly correlated with synapse density (measured using the synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A-binding [¹¹C]-UCBJ PET tracer; Pearsonʼs r(98) = 0.44, P_spin = 0.0003, CI = [0.26, 0.58], two-tailed). g, Pearsonʼs correlations between pairs of receptor/transporter distributions are shown stratified by excitatory versus inhibitory, monoamine versus non-monoamine, ionotropic versus metabotropic and Gs-coupled versus Gi-coupled versus Gq-coupled metabotropic receptors.