School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, Kanagawa, Japan.
Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, Tochigi, Japan.
J Vet Med Sci. 2022 Sep 21;84(10):1363-1367. doi: 10.1292/jvms.22-0234. Epub 2022 Aug 10.
Cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy (CVSM), a common cause of cervical spinal cord compression, is a neurological disease characterized by general proprioceptive ataxia and weakness of hindlimbs that tends to develop in young adult Thoroughbred horses. Although male horses seem to be at increased risk for CVSM, the mechanism for the occurrence of sex differences in the prevalence of CVSM is still poorly understood. Hence, we hypothesized that sex differences in the development of cervical spinal cord and spinal canal would affect the development of CVSM. This study aimed to evaluate sex differences in the development of cervical spinal cord and spinal canal in Thoroughbred horses. A total of 29 Thoroughbred horses underwent computed tomographic myelography. Thereafter, the volumes of cervical spinal cord and spinal canal were calculated. Accordingly, male horses had significantly lager cervical spinal cord volume and cervical spinal cord-to-spinal canal volume ratio than those of female horses (P<0.05). Sex differences in the cervical spinal cord-to-spinal canal volume ratio gradually decreased until around 1,400 days of age. Younger male horses have narrower interspace between the cervical spinal cord and spinal canal than younger female horses, suggesting that an imbalanced cervical spinal cord and spinal canal growth is one of the causes of CVSM.
颈椎狭窄性脊髓病（CVSM）是一种常见的颈椎脊髓压迫症，是一种以全身本体感觉性共济失调和后肢无力为特征的神经系统疾病，这种疾病往往在年轻的纯种马中发生。虽然雄性马似乎更容易患 CVSM，但性别差异对 CVSM 患病率的影响机制仍不清楚。因此，我们假设颈椎脊髓和椎管的发育中的性别差异会影响 CVSM 的发生。本研究旨在评估纯种马颈椎脊髓和椎管的发育是否存在性别差异。共对 29 匹纯种马进行了计算机断层脊髓造影。此后，计算了颈椎脊髓和椎管的体积。结果显示，雄性马的颈椎脊髓体积和颈椎脊髓与椎管体积比显著大于雌性马（P<0.05）。颈椎脊髓与椎管体积比的性别差异逐渐减小，直到大约 1400 天龄。年轻的雄性马的颈椎脊髓和椎管之间的间隔比年轻的雌性马窄，这表明颈椎脊髓和椎管生长的不平衡是 CVSM 的原因之一。
