A quantitative study of the newborn and adult spinal cords of man

Abstract

By comparing measurements as found in newborn spinal cords with those of the adult, it is possible to show to an appreciable extent the changes occurring in the regional lengths, regional quantities of gray and white substance, and total volumes between birth and maturity. Examination of the literature revealed that no separate growth studies of the gray and white substance of the cord have been made on late human fetuses and newborn specimens. It is the purpose of the present investigation to study the four regions of the spinal cord from the quantitative viewpoint in a series of newborn and adult subjects and make comparisons wherever possible. Also in progress is a similar investigation of a series of fetal spinal cords. MATERIAL AND METHODSFor the study, six cords from adult Negro cadavers (three from each sex) and six newborn (four males and two females) were obtained within 36 hours after death. The adult subjects averaged 43 years of age, 168 cm. in length and 150 (estimated) pounds in weight while the newborns averaged 49.8 em. in length and 7 pounds in weight. Between death and removal of the cords, the bodies were kept in a refrigerator in a local hospital. The cords were hardened in 10% formalin 371

A study of the length of the spinal cord in pre- and postnatal life in Mehraban sheep (Ovis Aries)

“…Our observation that the thoracic spinal region was always the longest, followed by cervical, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal regions, is in agreement with those of Goller (1958) in sheep, Lassek and Rasmussen (1938) in man and Malinska et aL (1972) in the central European hedgehog, except that in the latter species the coccygeal region was longer than the sacral region. However, in the albino mouse, the cervical region was the most rapidly lengthening region of the spinal cord, followed by the sacral and lumbar regions (Sakla, 1969).…”

“…The spinal cord was 2.6 times longer in adult sheep than in the 5-month fetus compared with an increase of 2.7 times between birth and adulthood in man (Lassek and Rasmussen, 1938) and of 2.9 times in monkeys (Hines and Emerson, 1951).…”

Gross quantitative measurements of spinal cord segments in human

“…12 Regional variations in the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral cords have been quantitatively measured in adult cadavers. 1,13,14 Several post-mortem morphometric studies of the spinal cord have been performed, but measurements have differed between the reports so that no authorized standards have been established. Although the external and cross-sectional features of the adult human spinal cord have been well documented, there have been few quantitative studies on the variations and correlations along the human spinal cord in regard to the sagittal diameter, transverse diameter, cross-sectional area, length, and volume of each spinal cord segment.…”

Differential inhibition of postnatal brain, spinal cord and body growth by a growth hormone antagonist

“…Relative to its weight at birth, the spinal cord grows more postnatally than does the brain [1,2], and GH stimulates the enlargement of the spinal cord more than the brain [7]. Normal postnatal brain growth slows earlier than spinal cord growth (Figs.…”

“…Human brain weight increases 3–4 fold between birth and maturity [1], while the spinal cord enlarges about 10 times postnatally [2]. After maturity is reached, the human brain declines in size by approximately 2% each decade [1], while spinal cord size declines approximately 3% per decade [3].…”