Aquaporin-4 expression and modulation in a rat model of post-traumatic syringomyelia.

Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) has been implicated in post-traumatic syringomyelia (PTS), a disease characterised by the formation of fluid-filled cysts in the spinal cord. This study investigated the expression of AQP4 around a mature cyst (syrinx) and the effect of pharmacomodulation of AQP4 on syrinx size. PTS was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by computerized spinal cord impact and subarachnoid kaolin injection.

Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion at L4-5: A Morphometric Analysis of Psoas Anatomy and Cage Placement.

Background: The ventral elevation (VE) of the psoas from the vertebral column as seen on axial magnetic resonance imaging has been suggested as a preclusion of a safe working zone for lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) at L4-5. However, no quantitative study has been conducted to verify this.

Methods: L4-5 LLIF was attempted using 22-mm wider cages whenever feasible over 18-mm standard cages in a consecutive series of 62 patients.

Abnormalities in spinal cord ultrastructure in a rat model of post-traumatic syringomyelia.

Background: Syringomyelia is a serious complication of spinal cord trauma, occurring in approximately 28% of spinal cord injuries. Treatment options are limited and often produce unsatisfactory results. Post-traumatic syringomyelia (PTS) is presumably related to abnormalities of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and interstitial fluid hydrodynamics, but the exact mechanisms are unknown.

Effect of extradural constriction on CSF flow in rat spinal cord.

Background: Fluid homeostasis in the central nervous system (CNS) is essential for normal neurological function. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the subarachnoid space and interstitial fluid circulation in the CNS parenchyma clears metabolites and neurotransmitters and removes pathogens and excess proteins. A thorough understanding of the normal physiology is required in order to understand CNS fluid disorders, including post-traumatic syringomyelia.

The ultrastructure of spinal cord perivascular spaces: Implications for the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid.

Perivascular spaces play a pivotal role in the exchange between cerebrospinal and interstitial fluids, and in the clearance of waste in the CNS, yet their precise anatomical components are not well described. The aim of this study was to characterise the ultrastructure of perivascular spaces and their role in the transport of fluid, in the spinal cord of healthy rats, using transmission electron microscopy. The distribution of cerebrospinal fluid tracers injected into the subarachnoid space was studied using light, confocal and electron microscopy.

A radiographic analysis of cage positioning in lateral transpsoas lumbar interbody fusion.

Direct Lumbar Interbody Fusion (DLIF) and eXtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF) are the most common surgical platforms available for performing transpsoas spinal fusion but no study has been carried out to compare them. We evaluated 21 DLIF and 22 XLIF cage positions by measuring the distance between the posterior vertebral border and the centre of the cage normalised to the midsagittal length of the inferior end plate. We found that DLIF cages were significantly more anteriorly located than XLIF (0.

Longitudinal measurements of syrinx size in a rat model of posttraumatic syringomyelia.

OBJECTIVE Syringomyelia pathophysiology is commonly studied using rodent models. However, in vivo studies of posttraumatic syringomyelia have been limited by the size of animals and lack of reliable noninvasive evaluation techniques. Imaging the rat spinal cord is particularly challenging because the spinal cord diameter is approximately 1-3 mm, and pathological lesions within the spinal cord parenchyma are even smaller.