Chinese Journal Of Clinical Anatomy ›› 2019, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (1): 40-44.doi: 10.13418/j.issn.1001-165x.2019.01.009

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A cervical spinal cord hemi-contusion injury model in mice and its histological characterization

HUANG Zhi-ping, LIN Jun-yu, LIU Jun-hao, LI Rong, LIU Ya-pu, LIU Qi, ZHU Qing-an, HUANG Zu-cheng, WU Xiao-liang   

  1. Department of Spine Surgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China
  • Received:2018-09-25 Online:2019-01-25 Published:2019-02-20

Abstract:

Objective To develop a hemi-contusive injury mice model of cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) with displacement control, and demonstrate unilateral cord tissue loss.   Methods Every C57BL/6 mouse was under anesthesia, and the left spinal cord of C5 was exposed. A 0.75-mm-in-diameter cylinder impactor was driven to strike the left of C5 cord 0.9 mm at 50 mm/s by an electromagnetic-servo material testing machine. Spinal cord samples of all mice were harvested 1 week after injury and processed for EC staining for quantitative analysis.   Results Average contusive displacement, speed and compressive force were (0.880±0.035) mm, (48.146±4.367) mm/s and (0.407±0.129) N respectively. Histological analysis showed that there were hematoma and tissue loss of ipsilateral dorsal funiculus, dorsal horn and partly ventral horns, while contralateral cord were intact. In epicenter, the average percentage of lesion area, spared white and gray matter area accounted for (19±7)%, (88±9)% and (28±4)% respectively. Conclusions This study establishes a cervical spinal cord hemi-contusion model in mice which achieves consistent biomechanical parameters, and results in typical ipsilateral spinal cord tissue loss. The present study can provide a SCI model for molecular mechanism and therapeutic research.

Key words: Spinal cord injury,  Unilateral contusion,   Displacement control,  Histology,  Mice