Abstract:

Objective：To prepare and evaluate the model of acute spinal cord injury（SCI）in rats，so as to lay a foundation for exploring the mechanism of SCI secondary reaction and the early intervention of SCI repair. Methods：The male SD rats aged 10 weeks were randomly divided as SCI group and Sham group（n=12）. In SCI group，the thoracic vertebrae laminectomy was performed at the 9-11ththoracic vertebrae（T9-11）. At T10，the spinal cord was completely clamped with an aneurysm clamp（50 g for 40 s），to prepare the acute SCI model in rats. The rats in Sham group only underwent laminectomy at T9-11. After SCI，the hindlimb motor function of rats was evaluated according to BBB scores. HE staining and TUNEL staining were respectively conducted to detect the pathological changes and cell apoptosis of spinal cord tissue. The relative content of proteins closely related to cell apoptosis was detected by Western blot. Results：The BBB scores of motor function in SCI group were significantly lower than those in Sham group；HE staining showed that the spinal cord structure of SCI group was severely damaged，cell body contracted，intercellular space became increased，and gray matter cavities were obviously seen；There was no abnormal change in Sham group. TUNEL staining demonstrated that the rate of cell apoptosis in SCI group was significantly higher than that of Sham group；Western blot results showed that SCI significantly decreased the relative content of Bcl-2，but increased the relative content of Bax and caspase-3. Conclusion：The SCI model prepared with an aneurysm clip compression could reflect the pathophysiology of the injured spinal cords. In view of the stability and simplicity of the model making，the clip compression should be widely recommended in the research of SCI repair.

Key words:

font-family:Times,"> spinal cord injuryfont-family:Helvetica,">,model makingfont-family:Helvetica,">,BBB scorefont-family:Helvetica,">,cell apoptosis