Recent studies have shown that, in the primate PD model, the changes in DAT and VMAT2 binding sites in the striatum of surviving substantia nigra neurons are similar, suggesting that targeting VMAT2 with the 18F-labeled dihydrotetrabenazine derivative (18F-FP-(+)-DTBZ) for imaging can provide results similar to those of the DAT imaging presently used to diagnose PD (Lin et al., 2014; Wood, 2014; Cho et al., 2019), but with the further advantage that 18F-FP-(+)-DTBZ imaging can also be used to assess the severity of PD (Hsiao et al., 2014). This evidence concerns the gene SLC18A2 and Parkinson disease.