Response of spinal cord oxygen tension to aortic occlusion

Development of a Multimodal Apparatus to Generate Biomechanically Reproducible Spinal Cord Injuries in Large Animals

Rodents are widespread animal models in spinal cord injury (SCI) research. They have contributed to obtaining important information. However, some treatments only tested in rodents did not prove efficient in clinical trials. This is probably a result of significant differences in the physiology, anatomy, and complexity between humans and rodents. To bridge this gap in a better way, a few research groups use pig models for SCI. Here we report the development of an apparatus to perform biomechanically reproducible SCI in large animals, including pigs. We present the iterative process of engineering, starting with a weight-drop system to ultimately produce a spring-load impactor. This device allows a graded combination of a contusion and a compression injury. We further engineered a device to entrap the spinal cord and prevent it from escaping at the moment of the impact. In addition, it provides identical resistance around the cord, thereby, optimizing the inter-animal reproducibility. We also present other tools to straighten the vertebral column and to ease the surgery. Sensors mounted on the impactor provide information to assess the inter-animal reproducibility of the impacts. Further evaluation of the injury strength using neurophysiological recordings, MRI scans, and histology shows consistency between impacts. We conclude that this apparatus provides biomechanically reproducible spinal cord injuries in pigs.

Development of a large-animal model to measure dynamic cerebrospinal fluid pressure during spinal cord injury

Object

Spinal cord injury (SCI) often results in considerable permanent neurological impairment, and unfortunately, the successful translation of effective treatments from laboratory models to human patients is lacking. This may be partially attributed to differences in anatomy, physiology, and scale between humans and rodent models. One potentially important difference between the rodent and human spinal cord is the presence of a significant CSF volume within the intrathecal space around the human cord. While the CSF may “cushion” the spinal cord, pressure waves within the CSF at the time of injury may contribute to the extent and severity of the primary injury. The objective of this study was to develop a model of contusion SCI in a miniature pig and establish the feasibility of measuring spinal CSF pressure during injury.

Methods

A custom weight-drop device was used to apply thoracic contusion SCI to 17 Yucatan miniature pigs. Impact load and velocity were measured. Using fiber optic pressure transducers implanted in the thecal sac, CSF pressures resulting from 2 injury severities (caused by 50-g and 100-g weights released from a 50-cm height) were measured.

Results

The median peak impact loads were 54 N and 132 N for the 50-g and 100-g injuries, respectively. At a nominal 100 mm from the injury epicenter, the authors observed a small negative pressure peak (median −4.6 mm Hg [cranial] and −5.8 mm Hg [caudal] for 50 g; −27.6 mm Hg [cranial] and −27.2 mm Hg [caudal] for 100 g) followed by a larger positive pressure peak (median 110.5 mm Hg [cranial] and 77.1 mm Hg [caudal] for 50 g; 88.4 mm Hg [cranial] and 67.2 mm Hg [caudal] for 100 g) relative to the preinjury pressure. There were no significant differences in peak pressure between the 2 injury severities or the caudal and cranial transducer locations.

Conclusions

A new model of contusion SCI was developed to measure spinal CSF pressures during the SCI event. The results suggest that the Yucatan miniature pig is an appropriate model for studying CSF, spinal cord, and dura interactions during injury. With further development and characterization it may be an appropriate in vivo largeanimal model of SCI to answer questions regarding pathological changes, therapeutic safety, or treatment efficacy, particularly where humanlike dimensions and physiology are important.

The influence of hemorrhagic hypotension on spinal cord tissue oxygen tension

In order to investigate the spinal cord surface PO2 (sPO2) reaction to hypovolemic hypotension, nine female pigs (25 kg bw) were premedicated, anesthetized, intubated and artificially ventilated with N2O:O2 = 3:1. Following laminectomy from L3 to L5, sPO2 was measured on the dorsal side of the exposed spinal cord using six gold cathodes (luminal diameter 15 microns) while MAP (mean +/- SD) was lowered in steps of about 10 Torr by bleeding into a reservoir from 69.3 +/- 10.1 Torr to extreme low values of 13.3 +/- 3.1 Torr. Only a slight decrease of lumbar sPO2 (mean +/- SD) from 33.5 +/- 7.2 Torr to 27.6 +/- 4.8 Torr was evaluated from the data in response to MAP reduction to 50.2 +/- 3.5 Torr. Below that value, a marked proportional decrease of sPO2 and MAP was observed (0.65 Torr/Torr) corresponding to pressure passive flow behavior of the Hagen Poisseuille Law ("loss of autoregulation"). Four to five minutes after start of reinfusion both sPO2 and MAP showed an overshoot with maximum values of 54.0 +/- 11.1 Torr resp. 102.6 +/- 18 Torr. Initial values were approximated about 15 min. later. Histograms plotted from the individual sPO2 values of all pigs and of all the different experimental stages showed signs of severe hypoxia only if MAP was reduced below about 30 Torr. In general, this situation was reversible within reinfusion, only one of the nine pigs did not tolerate hemorrhagic hypoxia induced by MAP reduction to less than 30 Torr for at least 5-10 min. Nevertheless, the experiments showed a considerable circulatory stability in the investigated pigs.