Capital Medical University School of Rehabilitation Medicine, Beijing 100068, China.
Institute of Rehabilitation Engineering, China Rehabilitation Research Centre, Beijing 100068, China.
Biomed Res Int. 2018 Nov 11;2018:4068156. doi: 10.1155/2018/4068156. eCollection 2018.
The purpose of this study was to assess the pathological variation in white matter tracts in the adult severe thoracic contusion spinal cord injury (SCI) rat models combined with in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as well as the effect of spared white matter (WM) quantity on hindlimb motor function recovery. 7.0T MRI was conducted for all experimental animals before SCI and 1, 3, 7, and 14 days after SCI. The variation in the white matter tract in different regions of the spinal cord after SCI was examined by luxol fast blue (LFB) staining, NF200 immunochemistry, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters, including fraction anisotropy, mean diffusivity, axial diffusion, and radial diffusivity. Meanwhile, Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) open-field scoring was performed to evaluate the behavior of the paraplegic hind limbs. The quantitative analysis showed that spared white matter measures assessed by LFB and MRI had a close correlation (R = 0.8508). The percentage of spared white matter area was closely correlated with BBB score (R = 0.8460). After SCI, spared white matter in the spinal cord, especially the ventral column WM, played a critical role in motor function restoration. The results suggest that the first three days provides a key time window for SCI protection and treatment; spared white matter, especially in the ventral column, plays a key role in motor function recovery in rats. Additionally, DTI may be an important noninvasive technique to diagnose acute SCI degree as well as a tool to evaluate functional prognosis. During the transition from nerve protection toward clinical treatment after SCI, in vivo DTI may serve as an emerging noninvasive technique to diagnose acute SCI degree and predict the degree of spontaneous functional recovery after SCI.
本研究旨在评估成人严重胸段挫伤性脊髓损伤（SCI）大鼠模型中白质束的病理变化，结合体内磁共振成像（MRI），以及保留的白质（WM）量对后肢运动功能恢复的影响。所有实验动物在 SCI 前和 SCI 后 1、3、7 和 14 天进行 7.0T MRI。通过洛索夫快速蓝（LFB）染色、NF200 免疫化学和弥散张量成像（DTI）参数，包括分数各向异性、平均弥散度、轴向弥散度和径向弥散度，检查 SCI 后不同脊髓区域白质束的变化。同时，进行巴索-比蒂-布雷森汉（BBB）开野评分，以评估截瘫后肢的行为。定量分析显示，LFB 和 MRI 评估的保留白质测量值密切相关（R = 0.8508）。保留白质面积的百分比与 BBB 评分密切相关（R = 0.8460）。SCI 后，脊髓中保留的白质，特别是腹侧柱 WM，在运动功能恢复中起着关键作用。结果表明，前三天是 SCI 保护和治疗的关键时间窗；保留的白质，特别是腹侧柱，在大鼠运动功能恢复中起着关键作用。此外，DTI 可能是诊断急性 SCI 程度和评估功能预后的重要非侵入性技术。在 SCI 后从神经保护向临床治疗的转变过程中，体内 DTI 可能成为一种新兴的非侵入性技术，用于诊断急性 SCI 程度，并预测 SCI 后自发功能恢复的程度。
