Flow-metabolism uncoupling in the cervical spinal cord of ALS patients

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal motor neuron disease. In ALS, both glucose consumption and neuronal intensity reportedly decrease in the cerebral motor cortex when measured by positron emission tomography (PET). In this study, we evaluated cervical spinal glucose metabolism, blood flow, and neuronal intensity of 10 ALS patients with upper extremity (U/E) atrophy both with 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (18F-FDG) PET and 11C-flumazenil (11C-FMZ) PET. On the ipsilateral side of C5 and T1 levels, 18F-FDG uptake increased significantly (*p < 0.05), and was correlated with the rate of progression of the ALS FRS-R-U/E score (R = 0.645, *p = 0.041). Despite this hyperglucose metabolism, the 11C-FMZ PET study did not show a coupled increase of spinal blood flow even though neuronal intensity did not decrease. These results indicate a strong correlation between hyperglucose metabolism and ALS progression alongside the uncoupling of flow-metabolism. This mechanism, which could result in subsequent motor neuronal death, may be a potential therapeutic target for ALS.