Assessment of skeletal muscle damage in experimental animal using In-111 antimyosin

Skeletal muscle injury induced in the thigh muscles of New Zealand rabbits was investigated using radionuclide imaging technique after intravenous injection of In-111 antimyosin. Images were obtained for 3 weeks beginning from the first day of injury. The injury was visualized as early as 3 h after injection of the tracer. The mean uptake ratio of the injury to the normal muscle was 2.8 +/- 0.62 (p < 0.001) on the third to fifth day, decreasing with healing to 1.40 +/- 0.15 by the end of the study (3 weeks). The mean uptake ratio of the more severely crushed left to less severely crushed right side was 1.36 +/- 0.17 (p < 0.01) on the third day. The results of this study show that the radionuclide imaging technique using In-111 antimyosin is useful for the assessment of skeletal muscle damage and also for monitoring the progress of healing. This technique can be applied clinically to evaluate skeletal muscle damage in problematic fractures.