BACKGROUND:Propagation phase contrast tomography can greatly improve the spatial resolution of chondrocytes and microvessels depending on the high colimation and high coherence performance of hard X-ray. OBJECTIVE: To detect the alteration of angioarchitecture after spinal cord injury in rats using propagation phase contrast tomography. METHODS: Eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups: in experimental group, an acute spinal cord injury model was induced in rats by the modified Alen’s method; in sham control group, rats were subjected to laminectomy. At 1 day after operation, normal and injured spinal cord segments were taken and treated with formaldehyde-methyl salicylate sequentialy for 48 hours. The segments were scanned by propagation phase contrast tomography in BL13W1 beamline experimental station of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, China. Harvested data were analyzed by VGStudio Max 2.1 software for three-dimensional reconstruction and microvasculature quantitative analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The propagation phase contrast tomography successfuly simulated the morphology of angioarchitecture folowing spinal cord injury. After acute spinal cord contusion, the destruction of nerve tissues was accompanied by severe microvasculature damage. Intramedulary tissue damage and loss of blood supply was spread from the central zone to the ends. Three-dimensional microvascular quantitative data showed that after spinal cord contusion, the number of microvessels and vascular perfusion volume drasticaly reduced (P < 0.01). These findings indicate that the propagation phase contrast tomography without angiography has potential as a new ultra high-resolution visualization technique for three-dimensional microvessel imaging and quantitative analysis.