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Updated: May 31, 2026
A Contusion Model of Severe Spinal Cord Injury in Rats
Published on: August 17, 2013
New approach for graded compression spinal cord injuries in Rhesus macaque: method feasibility and preliminary
Gabriel Guízar-Sahagún1, Israel Grijalva, Braulio Hernández-Godínez
1Research Unit for Neurological Diseases, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Mexico City, Mexico. guizarg@gmail.com
Background:
Current models of spinal cord injury (SCI) have been ineffective for translational research. Primate blunt SCI, which more closely resembles human injury, could be a promising model to fill this gap.
Methods:
Graded compression SCI was produced by inflating at T9 an epidural balloon as a function of spinal canal dimensions in a non-uniform group of monkeys.
Results:
Sham injury and cord compression by canal invasion of 50-75% produced minimal morpho-functional alterations, if at all. Canal invasion of 90-100% resulted in proportional functional deficits. Unexpectedly, these animals showed spontaneous gradual recovery over a 12-week period achieving quadruped walking, although with persistent absence of foot grasping reflex. Histopathology revealed predominance of central cord damage that correlated with functional status.
Conclusions:
Our preliminary results suggest that this model could potentially be a useful addition to translational work, but requires further validation by including animals with permanent injuries and expansion of replicates.
