【Animal Modeling】-Comparison and Behavioral Evaluation of Rat Spinal Cord Contusion Models

  OBJECTIVE: To establish spinal cord injury models in rats with different degrees of MASCIS and IH, and to study the relationship between injury degree, modeling method, behavior, and anatomical results.

  Methods: 80 female SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups with 20 rats in each group. NYU12.5mm, NYU25mm, IH150kdyn and IH200kdyn models were made respectively, and the model making success rate, BBB score, GridWalking evaluation, heat pain and injury were evaluated. The amount of residual tissue in the center was evaluated.

  Results: The success rates of the two modeling methods were similar; the 0-3dBBB scores of all animals dropped to about 0 after injury, and the BBB scores gradually recovered with time, and reached a plateau at 4-6 weeks. The NYU25mm group had the lowest score, and IH200 The scores of the IH150 and NYU12.5mm groups were in the middle, and the scores of the IH150 and NYU12.5mm groups were similar and highest; the GridWalking fall rate increased with the degree of injury; the Hargreaves results were greatly affected by the motor function; the movement disorder was inversely proportional to the residual tissue at the level of the injury center.

  Conclusion: Both MASCIS and IH models can meet the research requirements of the pathophysiological mechanism of spinal cord injury, but appropriate modeling parameters should be selected according to the experimental purpose.