【Animal Modeling】-Animal Model of Vertebral Artery Compression

  Vertebral artery type cervical spondylosis is caused by degenerative changes of the cervical spine involving the vertebral artery, causing ischemia of the cerebellum and brainstem. As the population ages, its incidence is gradually increasing. Clinically, dizziness due to insufficient blood supply to the brain is caused by more than two-thirds of the blood supply to the vertebral artery system.

  (1) After the replication method is anesthetized, the experimental rabbits are cut open, sterilized and spread out with sterile paper. Make a longitudinal incision in the center of the front part of the neck, cut the skin and suture it with a sterile towel. Separate the long colon muscles in front of the cervical vertebrae 5 and 6 to expose the anterior part of the vertebral body and the anterior part of its transverse process. The wing between the transverse processes on one side is removed, and the vertebral artery and vein can be seen. Carefully separate the periosteum in the vertebral artery from the subperiosteal behind the vertebral body. Prefabricated 8mm long bone graft block [Take the same type of rabbit i-bone, soak it in 0.1% benzalkonium bromide (Singermid) for 20 minutes, then soak it in 70% ethanol, and then store it at 4° C's refrigerator. Then, it is transplanted into the subperiosteal space. The cross-section of the bone block is an equilateral triangle of 3mm x 3mm x 3mm. Suture the fascia and tissue in front of the vertebral body to prevent the bones from moving forward, and suture the subcutaneous tissue and skin layer by layer. After the operation, 40,000 units of gentamicin were injected intramuscularly for 3 days.

  (2) Model characteristics About 35 days after the operation, the hemodynamic changes of the vertebral artery are stable. During the systole, the peak flow velocity on the compressed side decreases, the time average peak flow velocity decreases, and the resistance index increases. The measurement of plasma endothelin (which has a dose-dependent contraction effect on the basilar artery) showed that the plasma endothelin content of model rabbits increased significantly after surgery.

  (3) Comparative medicine The blood supply of the human brain is composed of two independent circulatory systems, one is the vertebral artery and the other is the internal carotid artery. The extracranial part of rabbit vertebral artery lacks the same obvious branches as humans, and its blood supply is less affected by collateral circulation. The degenerative changes of the vertebral body and its accessory organs in rabbits aged 3.5-4.5 are as important as age-related degeneration in humans, and the bone graft between the transverse processes is consistent with the pathological features of the disease. Plasma endothelin content of model rabbits can increase significantly after surgery, which is consistent with the changes of plasma endothelin content in patients with vertebral artery cervical spondylosis before and after surgery.