Induction of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in Rat Using a Device Made in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Backgrond:Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to a serious neurological condition, associating with sensory and motor dysfunctions as well as urinary infections. In the experimental situations, using a valid SCI model helps to understand pathophysiological mechanisms and better ascertainment of therapeutic interventions. Because contusion type of SCI occurs commonly in human, in the present study, we designed a modified impactor device (NSRC Impactor) in Tabriz University of medical sciences and examined it to evaluate with inducing different severities of injury according to kilodyne (kdyn) in the spinal cord of rats. In the current experimental intervention study, in order to standardize and determine the optimal performance of the NSRC Impactor to create very mild to very severe SCIs, three different forces (100, 150, 250 kdyn) were applied at T10 level of vertebra. For evaluating tissue changes and behavioral deficits, Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining and Basso-Beattie-Brenham (BBB) locomotor tests were performed. Data were analyzed using SPSS, v. 16. Our results have shown that by increasing the level of forces, histological changes in the spinal cord increases statistically. Meanwhile, different injuries had significant effects on the BBB score test in SCI groups in comparison with the laminectomy group (100 kdyn group vs laminectomy group: P=0.019, 150 kdyn group vs laminectomy group: P=0.001, 250 kdyn group vs laminectomy group: P=0.0003). Our outcomes demonstrated that this device is a validated experimental instrument to induce precise SCI models in order to replicate SCI in humans. Nevertheless, it should be noted that different aspects
of SCI models are elaborated and more studies are obligatory to develop a more accurate model.