Evaluation of experimental spinal cord injury by measuring spontaneous spinal cord potentials

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The relationship between the spontaneous spinal electrogram and the degree of spinal cord injury was studied in anesthetic-free, surgically decerebrate cats that received experimental blunt trauma by the graded weight-drop method. The characteristic spontaneous slow negative potential of the spinal electrogram showed a frequency dependency that correlated positively with the intensity of the injury (impulse expressed in g-s). Graphs of the frequency of occurrence of the slow negative potentials as a function of time following initial injury indicated that both the slope and shape of the curve were dependent on the severity of the injury measured in g-s at the time of the injury and confirmed histologically. The spontaneous spinal electrogram may serve as a sensitive indicator of the degree of spinal cord injury and may be useful in the assessment of various treatment modalities.