Imaging Demyelinated Axons After Spinal Cord Injuries with PET Tracer [18F]3F4AP

Spinal cord injuries can cause lasting disability, and demyelination of spared axons can worsen the condition. The study introduces a new PET tracer, [18F]3F4AP, to image demyelinated axons after SCI. Rats with incomplete spinal cord injuries were imaged using [18F]3F4AP PET. The results were then validated through autoradiography and immunohistochemistry. A small study was also done with two human subjects. The PET scans of rats revealed a significant increase in tracer binding at the injured area one week post-injury. In humans, the tracer could differentiate between a severe and a largely recovered injury.

• 1
  [18F]3F4AP PET in rats showed over a 2-fold increase in tracer binding localized to the injury site 7 days post-injury compared to baseline.
• 2
  Autoradiography, histology, and immunohistochemistry confirmed that [18F]3F4AP targets demyelinated axons.
• 3
  In humans, [18F]3F4AP distinguished between a severe and a largely recovered incomplete spinal cord injury.