Rodent models of acute spinal cord injury (SCI) are often used to investigate the effects of injury mechanism, injury speed, and cord displacement magnitude, on the ensuing cascade of biological damage in the cord. However, due to its small size, experimental observations have largely been limited to the gross response of the cord. To properly understand the relationship between mechanical stimulus and biological damage, more information is needed about how the constituent tissues of the cord (i.e., gray and white matter) respond to injurious stimuli. To address this limitation, we developed a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-compatible test apparatus that can impose either a contusion-type or dislocation-type acute cervical SCI in a rodent model and facilitate MR-imaging of the cervical spinal cord in a 7 T MR scanner. In this study, we present the experimental performance parameters of the MR rig. Utilizing cadaveric specimens and static radiographs, we report contusion magnitude accuracy that for a desired 1.8 mm injury, a nominal 1.78 mm injury (SD = 0.12 mm) was achieved. High-speed video analysis was employed to determine the injury speeds for both mechanisms and were found to be 1147 mm/s (SD = 240 mm/s) and 184 mm/s (SD = 101 mm/s) for contusion and dislocation injuries, respectively. Furthermore, we present qualitative pilot data from a cadaveric trial, employing the MR rig, to show the expected results from future studies.
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September 2014
Design Innovation Paper
Characterization of a Novel, Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Compatible Rodent Model Spinal Cord Injury Device
Tim Bhatnagar,
Tim Bhatnagar
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of British Columbia
,Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
, Canada
International Collaboration
on Repair Discoveries
e-mail: tim.bhatnagar@gmail.com
on Repair Discoveries
(ICORD)
,Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
, Canada
e-mail: tim.bhatnagar@gmail.com
1Corresponding author.
Search for other works by this author on:
Jie Liu,
Jie Liu
Department of Zoology,
University of British Columbia
,Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
, Canada
International Collaboration
on Repair Discoveries
on Repair Discoveries
(ICORD)
,Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Thomas Oxland
Thomas Oxland
Departments of Orthopaedics and Mechanical Engineering,
University of British Columbia
,Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
, Canada
International Collaboration on
Repair Discoveries
Repair Discoveries
(ICORD)
,Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Tim Bhatnagar
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of British Columbia
,Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
, Canada
International Collaboration
on Repair Discoveries
e-mail: tim.bhatnagar@gmail.com
on Repair Discoveries
(ICORD)
,Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
, Canada
e-mail: tim.bhatnagar@gmail.com
Jie Liu
Department of Zoology,
University of British Columbia
,Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
, Canada
International Collaboration
on Repair Discoveries
on Repair Discoveries
(ICORD)
,Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
, Canada
Thomas Oxland
Departments of Orthopaedics and Mechanical Engineering,
University of British Columbia
,Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
, Canada
International Collaboration on
Repair Discoveries
Repair Discoveries
(ICORD)
,Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
, Canada
1Corresponding author.
Manuscript received January 27, 2014; final manuscript received April 16, 2014; accepted manuscript posted May 14, 2014; published online June 26, 2014. Assoc. Editor: Barclay Morrison.
J Biomech Eng. Sep 2014, 136(9): 095001 (6 pages)
Published Online: June 26, 2014
Article history
Received:
January 27, 2014
Revision Received:
April 16, 2014
Accepted:
May 14, 2014
Citation
Bhatnagar, T., Liu, J., and Oxland, T. (June 26, 2014). "Characterization of a Novel, Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Compatible Rodent Model Spinal Cord Injury Device." ASME. J Biomech Eng. September 2014; 136(9): 095001. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4027670
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