Preserved autoregulation in the rhesus spinal cord after high cervical cord section.

The authors studied the effect of high cervical cord section on the phenomenon of autoregulation in the rhesus monkey with the hydrogen clearance method to measure focal spinal cord blood flow (SCBF). Laminectomies were performed at T7-11 and C1-2. The spinal cord was completely severed at C1-2. Under normocapnic conditions, SCBF was then measured in the thoracic spinal cord over a wide range of blood pressures (MAP). The MAP was either lowered by bleeding or raised by the intravenous infusion of angiotensin. Autoregulation was found to be intact between 50 and 125 mm Hg, following a pattern similar to the one observed in the intact animal.