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Updated: Jun 4, 2026
A Contusion Model of Severe Spinal Cord Injury in Rats
Published on: August 17, 2013
Spinal cord injury immediately decreases anesthetic requirements in rats
G Foffani1, D Humanes-Valera, F Calderon-Muñoz
1Neurosignals Group, Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos, SESCAM, Toledo, Spain. guglielmo.foffani@drexel.edu
Study Design:
Pharmacologically blocking the spinal cord produces sedative effects and reduces anesthesia requirements in patients and animals. Whether spinal cord injury also reduces anesthesia requirements remains unclear.
Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed data from urethane-anesthetized rats (15) to assess anesthesia requirements immediately after complete thoracic transection of the spinal cord. The depth of anesthesia was monitored up to 12 h after spinal transection by the reflexes to noxious stimuli and by electrophysiological recordings from the infragranular layers of the primary somatosensory cortex. Whenever animals displayed electrophysiological and/or behavioral signs of activation, we delivered an additional dose of anesthesia. Anesthetic requirements in animals receiving spinal transection (n=11) were compared with control animals receiving 'sham' lesion (n=9).
Results:
The cumulative dose necessary to maintain a stable level of anesthesia was significantly lower in transected animals compared with control animals. By about 7 h after spinal cord injury, on average the cumulative dose of urethane was only 1.13±0.14 of the original dose, compared with 1.64±0.19 of the original dose in control animals.
Conclusions:
Spinal transection immediately decreased anesthetic requirements in rats. To establish whether these results are relevant for patients with spinal cord injury will require further investigation.
