title: Establishment of a rat model of chronic thoracolumbar cord compression with a flat plastic screw.
abstract: Previous studies of animal models of chronic mechanical compression of the spinal cord have mainly focused on cervical and thoracic lesions, but few studies have investigated thoracolumbar injury. The specific pathophysiological mechanism of chronic thoracolumbar cord injury has not yet been elucidated. The purpose of this study was to improve animal models of chronic thoracolumbar cord compression using the progressive screw. A custom-designed flat plastic screw was implanted in the spinal cord between thoracic vertebrae 12 and lumbar 1 of rats. The screw was tightened one complete turn (0.5 mm) every 7 days for 4 weeks to create different levels of chronic spinal cord compression. Following insertion of the screw, there was a significant decline in motor function of the hind limbs, and severe stenosis of micro-computed tomography parameters in the spinal cord. Cortical somatosensory evoked potential amplitudes were reduced remarkably, and latencies were prolonged at 30 minutes after surgery. The loss of motor neurons in the gray matter was marked. Demyelination and cavitation were observed in the white matter. An appropriate rat model of chronic thoracolumbar cord compression was successfully created using the progressive screw compression method, which simulated spinal cord compression injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Li-Hai
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yang-Mu
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Rui
authors.initials: ZR
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Heng
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics Research Institute, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics Research Institute, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Pei-Fu
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4279-1704
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Tang
keywords: Basso; Beattie and Bresnahan score; animal model; behavioral evaluation; chronic spinal cord injury; cortical somatosensory evoked potential; electrophysiology; histopathology; micro-computed tomography; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; spinal cord compression