de Medinaceli L, Wyatt R J
National Institute of Mental Health, Neuroscience Center at St. Elizabeths, Washington, D.C. 20032.
J Neural Transplant Plast. 1993 Jan-Mar;4(1):39-52. doi: 10.1155/NP.1993.39.
Large laboratory animals are the usual choice for complex surgical procedures on the spine and spinal cord, such as shortening of the spine. It would, however, be advantageous to be able to use a small inexpensive mammal like the rat. We describe a procedure which allows thoracic spondylectomy (T8-T9) to be performed in the rat with a satisfactory survival rate (69%). Functional consequences of the procedure on animals with uninjured spinal cord were monitored over a period of six months, at which time histologic examination was performed. There was a good correlation between operative trauma, consisting of mechanical injury to the cord assessed from the surgical notes, and the duration of postoperative spinal shock. Animals for which the cord appeared laminated or deformed at the time of sacrifice tended to show incomplete functional recovery. Cord cavitation developed in most surviving animals (78%) but did not have a measurable adverse effect on functional outcome. In the present study, the cord was not intentionally injured; however, availability of this procedure may facilitate the future development of methods to implement recovery of function following spinal cord injury.
大型实验动物通常是进行脊柱和脊髓复杂手术（如脊柱缩短术）的选择。然而，能够使用像大鼠这样小型且廉价的哺乳动物会具有优势。我们描述了一种可在大鼠身上进行胸椎椎体切除术（T8 - T9）的方法，其存活率令人满意（69%）。对脊髓未受损动物该手术的功能后果进行了为期六个月的监测，届时进行了组织学检查。手术创伤（根据手术记录评估的脊髓机械损伤）与术后脊髓休克的持续时间之间存在良好的相关性。在处死时脊髓出现分层或变形的动物往往显示功能恢复不完全。大多数存活动物（78%）出现了脊髓空洞形成，但对功能结果没有可测量的不利影响。在本研究中，脊髓未受到故意损伤；然而，该方法的可用性可能会促进未来脊髓损伤后功能恢复方法的发展。
