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Systemic hypothermia improves histological and functional outcome after cervical spinal cord contusion in rats
Author(s) -
Lo Thomas Pang,
Cho KyoungSuok,
Garg Maneesh Sen,
Lynch Michael Patrick,
Marcillo Alexander Eduardo,
Koivisto Denise Leigh,
Stagg Monica,
Abril Rosa Marie,
Patel Samik,
Dietrich W. Dalton,
Pearse Damien Daniel
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.22014
Subject(s) - hypothermia , forelimb , white matter , spinal cord , anesthesia , spinal cord injury , medicine , grip strength , anatomy , surgery , magnetic resonance imaging , psychiatry , radiology
Abstract Hypothermia has been employed during the past 30 years as a therapeutic modality for spinal cord injury (SCI) in animal models and in humans. With our newly developed rat cervical model of contusive SCI, we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of transient systemic hypothermia (beginning 5 minutes post‐injury for 4 hours, 33°C) with gradual rewarming (1°C per hour) for the preservation of tissue and the prevention of injury‐induced functional loss. A moderate cervical displacement SCI was performed in female Fischer rats, and behavior was assessed for 8 weeks. Histologically, the application of hypothermia after SCI resulted in significant increases in normal‐appearing white matter (31% increase) and gray matter (38% increase) volumes, greater preservation (four‐fold) of neurons immediately rostral and caudal to the injury epicenter, and enhanced sparing of axonal connections from retrogradely traced reticulospinal neurons (127% increase) compared with normothermic controls. Functionally, a faster rate of recovery in open field locomotor ability (BBB score, weeks 1–3) and improved forelimb strength, as measured by both weight‐supported hanging (43% increase) and grip strength (25% increase), were obtained after hypothermia. The current study demonstrates that mild systemic hypothermia is effective for retarding tissue damage and reducing neurological deficits following a clinically relevant contusive cervical SCI. J. Comp. Neurol. 514:433–448, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.