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Spinal Root Avulsion and Repair

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Animal Models of Acute Neurological Injury

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Translational Stroke Research ((SSTSR))

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Abstract

Motoneurons undergo retrograde degeneration following axonal injuries. The degree of degeneration varies with types of injuries, proximity of injury site to the cell body, species and age of the animal. Unlike other injuries, spinal root avulsion induces a rapid and massive cell loss of the motoneurons. It not only provides a mean to study the degenerative changes of spinal motoneurons but also resembles the brachial plexus injury in human. Despite they situate in the central nervous system, motoneurons have a strong ability to regenerate under a suitable environment. We herein present step-by-step procedures for performing extravertebral and intravertebral avulsion at seventh cervical segment in rat spinal cord and peripheral nerve implantation to allow regeneration of the motoneurons.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A simple and economic retraction system can be made by wiring a small metal hook to a pin with a rubber band. Then the animal is placed on a cork board.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Tak-Ho Chu & Wutian Wu

Authors
  1. Tak-Ho Chu
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  2. Wutian Wu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wutian Wu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Jun Chen

  2. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Zao C. Xu

  3. Indiana University School of Medicine, SNRI SCBIRG, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Xiao Ming Xu

  4. Center for Neuroscience Research, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA, USA

    John H. Zhang

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Chu, TH., Wu, W. (2019). Spinal Root Avulsion and Repair. In: Chen, J., Xu, Z., Xu, X., Zhang, J. (eds) Animal Models of Acute Neurological Injury. Springer Series in Translational Stroke Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16082-1_38

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16082-1_38

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16080-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16082-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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