Development of a Rat Model of Graded Contusive Spinal Cord Injury Using a Pneumatic Impact Device

Abstract

An animal model of spinal cord trauma is essential for understanding the injury mechanisms, cord regeneration, and to aid the development of new therapeutic modalities. This study focused on the development of a graded experimental contusion model for spinal cord injury (SCI) using a pneumatic impact device made in Korea. A contusive injury was made to the dorsal aspect of the cord. Three trauma groups were defined according to the impact velocity (IV). A control group (n=6), received laminectomy only. Group 1 (n=10), 2 (n=10), and 3 (n=10) had IVs of 1.5 m/sec, 2.0 m/sec, and 3.5 m/sec respectively. Functional assessments were made up to the 14th day after injury. The cord was removed at the 14th post-injury day and prepared for histopathologic examination. Significant behavioral and histopathological abnormalities were found in control and each trauma group. All trauma groups showed severe functional impairment immediately after injury but following different rates of functional recovery (Fig. 5). As the impact velocity and impulse increased, the depth of contusive lesion revealed to be profound the results show that the rat model reproduces spinal cord lesions consistently, has a distinctive value in assessing the effects of impact energy.

Small mammal MRI imaging in spinal cord injury: A novel practical technique for using a 1.5T MRI

“…Bright injured areas (at arrow tip) are clearly visible. tists have been contributing to this knowledge (Dohrmann, 1972;Behrmann et al, 1994;Young et al, 1994;Tuma et al, 1997;Kuhn and Wrathall, 1998;Spera et al, 1998Spera et al, , 2000Zhang et al, 1998;Bilgen and Narayana, 2001;Legos et al, 2001;Sumas et al, 2001;Gaviria et al, 2002;Kipnis et al, 2002;Merola et al, 2002;Rabchevsky et al, 2002;Seki et al, 2002;Stokes and Jakeman, 2002;Hauben et al, 2003;Popovich and Jones, 2003;Scheff et al, 2003;Ibarra et al, 2004;Kakulas, 2004;Tsai et al, 2004;Yeo et al, 2004;Baker and Hagg, 2005;Kastin and Pan, 2005;Tsai and Tator, 2005;Xiang et al, 2005;Nomura et al, 2006;Levene et al, 2007) but as of yet the understanding of the pathophysiology of SCI is incomplete.…”

Improvement in Spinal Cord Injury-Induced Bladder Fibrosis Using Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation into the Bladder Wall

“…The rats were anesthetized intraperitoneally with a 3:2 mixture of Zoletil (30 mg/ml; Bayer Korea, Seoul, South Korea) and Rompun (10 mg/ml; Bayer Korea). The rats were subjected to an injury at the T9 vertebral level of the spinal cord using the Chung-Ang University Hospital Model 2.0 (CAUH-2) pneumatic impactor (3 mm depth) (10, 32, 33) with a high intensity. Bladder compression was performed twice a day for emptying.…”

Effects of Cyclosporin-A, Minocycline, and Tacrolimus (FK506) on Enhanced Behavioral and Biochemical Recovery from Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

“…These experimental animal models include spinal cord traumatic injury model [81], photochemical-induced SCI model [82], spinal cord transection model [83], bidirectional distraction SCI model [84], and the spinal cord ischemiareperfusion injury model [85]. For traumatic injury model, the contusive SCI model is used by inducing contusion on the dorsal spinal cord by dropping a desired weight either from a computer-controlled impact device [86] or from a customized impact device [87]. Another traumatic injury model known as compressive SCI model is also very commonly used where instead of dropping the weight, it is placed on the exposed spinal cord segment in the dorsoventral direction to induce a compressive SCI [88,89].…”