Scheff Stephen W, Rabchevsky Alexander G, Fugaccia Isabella, Main John A, Lumpp James E
The Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40536-0230, USA.
J Neurotrauma. 2003 Feb;20(2):179-93. doi: 10.1089/08977150360547099.
We examined the ability of a novel spinal cord injury (SCI) device to produce graded morphological and behavioral changes in the adult rat following an injury at thoracic level 10 (T10). The injury device uses force applied to the tissue as the control variable rather than tissue displacement. This has the advantage of eliminating errors that may arise from tissue movement prior to injury. Three different injury severities, defined by the amount of force applied to the exposed spinal cord at T10 (100, 150, and 200 kdyn), were evaluated at two different survival times (7 and 42 d). Unbiased stereology was employed to evaluate morphological differences following the injury. Quantitative behavioral assessment employed the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan locomotive rating scale. There was a significant force-related decline in locomotive ability following the injury. Animals subjected to a 200-kdyn injury performed significantly worse than animals subjected to a 100- and 150-kdyn injury. The locomotor ability at different days post injury significantly correlated with the amount of force applied to the spinal cord. Statistical analysis revealed several significant force-related morphological differences following the injury. The greatest loss of white and gray matter occurred at the site of injury impact and extended in both a rostral and caudal direction. Animals subjected to the greatest force (200 kdyn) displayed the least amount of spared tissue at both survival times indicative of the most severe injury. The amount of spared tissue significantly correlated with the locomotor ability. This novel rodent model of SCI provides a significant improvement over existing devices for SCI by reducing variability with a constant preset force to define the injury.
我们研究了一种新型脊髓损伤（SCI）装置在成年大鼠胸10（T10）水平损伤后产生分级形态学和行为变化的能力。该损伤装置将施加于组织的力作为控制变量，而非组织位移。这具有消除损伤前组织移动可能产生误差的优势。通过在T10暴露脊髓上施加的力的大小（100、150和200千达因）定义了三种不同的损伤严重程度，并在两个不同的存活时间（7天和42天）进行评估。采用无偏立体学方法评估损伤后的形态学差异。定量行为评估采用巴索、比蒂和布雷斯纳汉运动评分量表。损伤后运动能力出现与力相关的显著下降。遭受200千达因损伤的动物比遭受100千达因和150千达因损伤的动物表现明显更差。损伤后不同天数的运动能力与施加于脊髓的力的大小显著相关。统计分析显示损伤后存在几个与力相关的显著形态学差异。白质和灰质的最大损失发生在损伤撞击部位，并向头端和尾端延伸。在两个存活时间点，遭受最大力（200千达因）的动物保留的组织最少，表明损伤最严重。保留组织的量与运动能力显著相关。这种新型的SCI啮齿动物模型通过以恒定预设力定义损伤来减少变异性，相较于现有的SCI装置有显著改进。
