A 72-h sedated porcine model of traumatic spinal cord injury
There is an increasing focus on the prevention of secondary injuries following traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI), especially through improvement of spinal cord perfusion and immunological modulation. Such therapeutic strategies require translational and controlled animal models of disease progress...
Saved in:
Published in | Brain & spine Vol. 4; p. 102813 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Netherlands
Elsevier B.V
2024
Elsevier |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | There is an increasing focus on the prevention of secondary injuries following traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI), especially through improvement of spinal cord perfusion and immunological modulation. Such therapeutic strategies require translational and controlled animal models of disease progression of the acute phases of human TSCI.
Is it possible to establish a 72-h sedated porcine model of incomplete thoracic TSCI, enabling controlled use of continuous, invasive, and non-invasive modalities during the entire sub-acute phase of TSCI?
A sham-controlled trial was conducted to establish the model, and 10 animals were assigned to either sham or TSCI. All animals underwent a laminectomy, and animals in the TSCI group were subjected to a weight-drop injury. Animals were then kept sedated for 72 h. The amount of injury was assessed by ex-vivo measures MRI-based fiber tractography, histology and immunohistochemistry.
In all animals, we were successful in maintaining sedation for 72 h without comprising vital physiological parameters. The MRI-based fiber tractography showed that all TSCI animals revealed a break in the integrity of spinal neurons, whereas histology demonstrated no transversal sections of the spine with complete injury. Notably, some animals displayed signs of secondary ischemic tissue in the cranial and caudal sections.
This study succeeded in producing a porcine model of incomplete TSCI, which was physiologically stable up to 72 h. We believe that this TSCI model will constitute a potential translational model to study the pathophysiology secondary to TSCI in humans.
•A translational large animal model of traumatic spinal cord injury was established.•An anesthetic regime for keeping the animals anesthetized for at least 72 h was established.•This allows for future studies using neuromonitoring and invasive modalities in a nonmoving animal.•Methods for evaluation of future interventions, such as immunohistochemistry and diffusion MRI, were established. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 2772-5294 2772-5294 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.bas.2024.102813 |