title: Injury potentials of spinal cord in ex vivo compression injury model.
abstract: The effect of applied electric field on neuroprotection and axonal regeneration has been studied in previous studies of acute spinal cord injury (SCI). However, due to the complexity of the microenvironment of the lesion site, the underlying mechanism of applied electric field is not yet fully understood. Thus, the injury potential, a significant index of the microenvironment change, was investigated in ex vivo spinal cords compression injury. Spinal cords isolated from rat were cultured in a double sucrose gap recording chamber. Both compound action potential (CAP) and injury potential were measured. Compression induced the decreasement of compound action potential, but the amplitude of CAP increased gradually after decompression. Compression also lead to the appearance of injury potential, represented by the voltage difference between the gap potential before and after compression, and the injury potential decreased with time logarithmicly after decompression. Intracellular Na(+) and Ca(2+) concentrations were measured and results showed that after injury these ions flowed into intracellular space. Therefore, the current approach can provide a basis for investigating the formation mechanism of the injury potential and help understand the pathophysiology of the SCI.
authors.lastname: Ai-Hua Wang
authors.lastname: Guang-Hao Zhang
authors.lastname: Cheng Zhang
authors.lastname: Xiao-Lin Huo
authors.lastname: Tao Song
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D051381:Rats; D012964:Sodium; D013116:Spinal Cord; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries
chemical_list: D012964:Sodium