Loss of autoregulation and posttraumatic ischemia following experimental spinal cord trauma

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Abstract
Blood flow in the dorsolateral funiculus of the cat thoracic spinal cord was studied after severe experimental cord injury, using a modification of the H clearance technique. Autoregulation was intact during the initial 60-90 min after cord injury, but was then lost coincident with the onset of ischemia. The ischemic response to spinal cord injury is apparently mediated by the loss of autoregulation and by relative vasoconstriction of the resistance vessels. Therapeutic intervention aimed at maintaining perfusion during the early posttraumatic period may prove to value in reversing or limiting some elements of dysfunction due to the secondary injury of ischemia.