The Effects of Age on the Morphometry of the Cervical Spinal Cord and Spinal Column in Adult Rats: An MRI‐Based Study

Abstract

Rat models are commonly used to investigate the pathophysiological pathways and treatment outcomes after spinal cord injury (SCI). The high incidence of fall-induced SCI in older adults has created a need for aging models of SCI in rats to investigate potential age-related differences in SCI severity and outcomes. The aims of this study were to determine the influences of age and vertebral level on the geometries of the cervical spinal cord and spinal column in a rat model. Three young (3 months) and three aged (12 months) Fischer 344 rats were imaged in a high field (7 T) small-animal magnetic resonance imaging system. All spinal cord geometry variables (including depth, width, and axial cross-sectional area) and one spinal canal variable (depth) were significantly larger in the aged specimens by an average of 8.1%. There were main effects of vertebral level on all spinal cord variables and four spinal canal variables with values generally larger at C4 as compared to C6 (average increases ranged from 5.7% to 12.9% in spinal cord measures and 5.4% to 6.8% in spinal canal measures). High inter-rater reliability between two measurers was observed with a mean intraclass correlation of 0.921 and percent difference of 0.9% across all variables measured. This study clearly demonstrates that cervical spinal cord geometry changes between the ages of 3 and 12 months in Fischer 344 rats. This information can aid in the planning and interpretation of studies that use a rat model to investigate the influence of age on cervical SCI.

Morphometric and volumetric analysis of the cervical spinal cord and vertebral canal using computed tomography images in normal Van cats

“…That being said, studies report that as the bodyweight of dogs increases, their cervical spinal cord and vertebral canal ratios decrease (Hecht et al., 2014; Seo et al., 2013). Other studies report that there are no correlations between spinal cord measurements and age, but degenerative changes may occur in the spinal cord due to senility, and this situation might lead to changes in the morphometric relationships between the spinal cord and the vertebral canal (Zhang et al, 1996; Laing et al., 2014). The present study, in line with the reference studies, determined no statistically significant relationships between the body weight and age parameters and the spinal cord and vertebral canal ratios, but a non‐significant correlation between these values was determined nonetheless in the negative direction (Table 5).…”

Stem Cell Therapies for Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

“…This is in part due to the ever-increasing spectrum of injury types, such as those sustained in direct military environments or as a result of changes in tactical armor design [3][4][5][6]. Others include improvements in emergency medicine leading to better survival rates [7], the growth of the aging population as a result of advances in preventative care [8][9][10], and lifestyle choices leading to structural degradation of the cervical spine [11,12].…”

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies for Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

“…Some cervical-specific causes of injury include direct and indirect military-based injuries (via combat or through weaknesses in tactical armor design) [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ] and lifestyle choices (such as sedentary lifestyles) leading to structural degradation of the cervical spine [ 8 , 9 ]. Ironically, advancements in modern healthcare have also been influential in the increasing incidence of survived cervical SCI; improvements in emergency medicine have led to better survival rates immediately following injury [ 10 ] while improvements in preventative care have led to the steady increase of an aging population and therefore age-associated injuries, degeneration, and weaknesses of the cervical spine [ 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”