title: The feasibility of in vivo imaging of infiltrating blood cells for predicting the functional prognosis after spinal cord injury.
abstract: After a spinal cord injury (SCI), a reliable prediction of the potential functional outcome is essential for determining the optimal treatment strategy. Despite recent advances in the field of neurological assessment, there is still no satisfactory methodology for predicting the functional outcome after SCI. We herein describe a novel method to predict the functional outcome at 12 hours after SCI using in vivo bioluminescence imaging. We produced three groups of SCI mice with different functional prognoses: 50 kdyn (mild), 70 kdyn (moderate) and 90 kdyn (severe). Only the locomotor function within 24 hours after SCI was unable to predict subsequent functional recovery. However, both the number of infiltrating neutrophils and the bioluminescence signal intensity from infiltrating blood cells were found to correlate with the severity of the injury at 12 hours after SCI. Furthermore, a strong linear relationship was observed among the number of infiltrating neutrophils, the bioluminescence signal intensity, and the severity of the injury. Our findings thus indicate that in vivo bioluminescence imaging is able to accurately predict the long-term functional outcome in the hyperacute phase of SCI, thereby providing evidence that this imaging modality could positively contribute to the future development of tailored therapeutic approaches for SCI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.|Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokota
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.|Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.|Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobayakawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.|Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Kensuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.|Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Masamitsu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.affiliation: Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.affiliation: Department of Transcriptomics, JST-CREST, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohkawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.|Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000378:metabolism; D011379:Prognosis; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013997:Time Factors