A new small animal model for the study of spine fusion in the sand rat: pilot studies

Spine fusion is used to treat traumatic or degenerative lumbar instability in the cervical or lumbar spine. Although degenerative radiological changes in discs adjacent to a fusion have been well-recognized, histopathological changes in adjacent discs have not been studied and are poorly understood. An economical small animal model for lumbar fusion would be a useful research tool. Study objectives were to: (1) develop a model of non-instrumented spine fusion in the sand rat, a rodent with spontaneous, age-related disc degeneration; (2) use radiological-histological analyses to study fusion and disc degeneration in cranial and caudal discs adjacent to the fusion. Studies were approved by our Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. A small segment of outer annulus tissue was surgically removed from lumbar discs, radiographs obtained and the animal allowed to recover and age. At surgical harvest, radiographs of 28 spine fusion specimens were scored and statistically analysed for adjacent disc space narrowing, wedging, endplate sclerosis and irregular disc margins. At harvest, the incidence of these radiological indices of disc degeneration were significantly greater than at time of surgery. Pilot studies presented here indicate that this model provides a novel addition to basic science approaches studying the clinically important topic of spinal fusion and adjacent segment changes. The resulting fusion site can be assessed statistically with radiological scoring to determine development/progression of disc degeneration in adjacent segments, and correlative histological features can be examined. The sand rat is well-suited for use in spine fusion studies because of reliable/reproducible progression of disc degeneration and the favourable economics of small rodent studies.