Abstract
Purpose
To determine the safe range of shortening the spinal column at middle thoracic spine and to observe the changes in blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB), microglia/macrophage activation and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity after shortening-induced spinal cord injury.
Methods
Dogs were allocated to four groups. Group A (control) underwent laminectomy of T7 without shortening the spinal column. Groups B, C and D had 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3 of T7 resected, respectively, followed by spinal shortening. Somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) and hind-limb function were recorded periodically for 14 days after operation. Spinal cord blood flow (SCBF) and BSCB were detected at the acute phase of shortening. Microglia/macrophage reactions and iNOS activity were observed by immunohistochemistry.
Results
Shortening of 1/3 of a vertebral height caused no significant changes in SSEP and hind-limb function after operation, whereas shortening of 1/2 of the height caused SSEP abnormality and paraparesis, and severe neurologic deficit of hind-limb was observed when the shortening reached 2/3 of the height. SCBF increased temporarily and showed a trend of recovery when the shortening was within 1/2 of a vertebral segment height. When it reached 1/2 or 2/3 of the height, SCBF at 6 h post-operation was 86.33% or 74.95% of the baseline, and an increasing BSCB permeability was observed. In the subsequent 7 days, obvious activation of macrophage and increased number of iNOS-positive cells were observed.
Conclusion
It is safe to shorten the spinal cord within 1/3 of a vertebral height in middle thoracic spine under two-segment laminectomy in canine. The BSCB disruption, macrophage activation, and increased iNOS activity were observed in the acute phase of the injury.
Graphic abstract
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Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81371347) and Key Research and Development Plan of Shaanxi Province (No. 2018ZDXM-SF-057).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The animal models were performed by Le Ji, Wenchen Ji, Binshang Lan and Lisong Heng. SSEP monitoring was performed by Yajuan Huang and Min Feng. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Xiaoying Ma, Shengli Huang and Jingyuan Li. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Le Ji and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ji, L., Ma, X., Ji, W. et al. Safe range of shortening the middle thoracic spine, an experimental study in canine. Eur Spine J 29, 616–627 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-019-06268-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-019-06268-8