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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Disruption of the Blood-Spinal Cord Barrier Using Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound in a Rat Model
Published on: March 10, 2023
Ultrasound-Induced Blood-Spinal Cord Barrier Opening in Rabbits
Anne-Sophie Montero1, Franck Bielle2, Lauriane Goldwirt3
1Sorbonne Universite, Neurosurgery Department, AP-HP, Hopital de la Pitie Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Advanced Surgical Research Technology Laboratory, Sorbonne Universite, Paris, France.
Abstract:
The blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) considerably limits the delivery and efficacy of treatments for spinal cord diseases. The blood-brain barrier can be safely opened with low-intensity pulsed ultrasound when microbubbles are simultaneously administered intravenously. This technique was tested on the BSCB in a rabbit model in this work. Twenty-three segments of spinal cord were sonicated with a 1-MHz unfocused pulsed ultrasound device and compared with non-sonicated segments. BSCB disruption was assessed using Evan's blue dye (EBD) extravasation. Tolerance was assessed by histologic analysis. An increased EBD concentration indicating BSCB disruption was clearly observed in sonicated segments compared with controls (p = 0.004). On one animal, which received 10 sonications, repetitive BSCB disruptions revealed no evidence of cumulative toxicity. BSCB can be disrupted using an unfocused pulsed ultrasound device in combination with microbubbles without neurotoxicity even in case of repeated sonications.
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