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Non‐invasive measurement of hindlimb muscle cross sectional area in a new rodent model of incomplete spinal cord injury
Author(s) -
Vohra Ravneet Singh,
Baligand Celine,
Ye Fan,
Lim Wootaek,
Keener Jonathon,
Walter Glenn,
Bose Prodip,
Thompson Floyd,
Vandenborne Krista
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.1105.17
Subject(s) - spinal cord injury , atrophy , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , hindlimb , muscle atrophy , spinal cord , rat model , anatomy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , pathology , radiology , psychiatry
Spontaneous recovery of muscle mass and locomotor function has been observed in rodents after contusion spinal cord injury (SCI), and has in part been attributed to muscle reloading. In this study we assessed a new model of SCI, in which the lower hindimbs were immobilized. Cast immobilization (IMM) following contusion injury will prevent muscle reloading and hence spontaneous recovery, providing a better model for testing drug and rehabilitation strategies. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows non‐invasive assessment of morphological properties of skeletal muscle. 16‐week old female Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups: Control, SCI, IMM, SCI + IMM. MRI was used to assess longitudinal changes in the maximal cross sectional area of triceps surae (TS). Three dimensional gradient echo images were acquired at 11T on a horizontal Bruker magnet. Acquisition parameters were: TR/TE: 4.5/115 ms, field of view: 25×25×25 mm 3 . Muscles were manually segmented with Osirix software. One week after surgery, 25 % of atrophy was observed in TS of SCI animals. Similarly, IMM alone resulted in 21% of atrophy after 1 week, then reached 35% after 2 weeks. While the atrophy slightly recovered up to 22% within 3 weeks in SCI, an important additional atrophy was induced in SCI+IMM (45%). These results demonstrate that IMM minimize the rate of spontaneous recovery of skeletal muscle in contusion SCI animals. NICHD PO1 HD059751 ‐01A1 supports this work.