Experimental spinal cord injury: lumbar vertebra resection to shorten the gap between spinal cord stumps

Experimental spinal cord transection injuries followed by spinal cord destruction and gentle resection of the destructed cord tissue necessarily lead to a gap between both of the cord stumps. For any attempts to reconstruct the cord or to bridge this gap by transplantation it may be useful to narrow or close the gap. This can be done by vertebral resection. The technique of upper lumbar vertebra resection in cats and rabbits with and without spinal cord lesion is presented. The spine is shortened by approximately 20 mm by spondylectomy. This length exceeds the 10-14 mm long gap in the spinal cord which is created by a spinal cord crush injury using haemostatic forceps and the subsequent destruction zone resection which is performed seven days later. The upper lumbar vertebra is resected by the posterior approach and the spinal cord is sufficiently exposed to perform spinal cord reconstruction experiments.