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New assessment techniques for evaluation of posttraumatic spinal cord function in the rat
H van de Meent1, F P Hamers, A J Lankhorst
1Department of Medical Pharmacology, Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neurosciences, utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Journal of Neurotrauma
|December 1, 1996
Summary
New functional tests, thoracolumbar height (TLH) and rubrospinal motor evoked potentials (MEP), accurately assess spinal cord function after injury. These methods are sensitive to subtle changes, aiding drug screening for spinal cord repair.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pharmacology
- Regenerative Medicine
Background:
- Posttraumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) assessment requires sensitive methods for drug screening.
- Existing methods like Tarlov scores may lack sensitivity for mild to moderate injuries.
- Contusive SCI models in rats mimic human pathology, making them valuable for research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate two novel functional tests for assessing spinal cord function after mild to moderate contusive injuries.
- To compare the efficacy of these new tests against traditional methods like Tarlov scores and morphometric analysis.
- To establish objective and sensitive measures for detecting subtle functional deficits and treatment effects in SCI models.
Main Methods:
- Induction of moderate and mild contusive spinal cord injuries using a modified weight drop (WD) technique in rats.
- Development of a computer analysis of thoracolumbar height (TLH) to assess locomotion.
- Measurement of rubrospinal motor evoked potentials (MEP) to evaluate spinal cord conduction properties.
Main Results:
- Thoracolumbar height (TLH) measurements demonstrated greater sensitivity and objectivity in discriminating motor function differences compared to Tarlov scores.
- Amplitudes of rubrospinal motor evoked potentials (MEP) were highly sensitive to subtle changes in posttraumatic spinal cord function.
- A significant linear correlation was observed between TLH measurements and the amplitude of rubrospinal MEPs.
Conclusions:
- TLH and rubrospinal MEP amplitudes are valuable objective measures for assessing spinal cord function after moderate and mild contusive injuries.
- These novel assessment techniques can effectively detect small functional differences, crucial for experimental treatment evaluation.
- The findings support the use of TLH and MEP amplitude for sensitive and objective monitoring in SCI drug development and research.