Chitosan 3D scaffolds with resolvin D1 for vertebral arthrodesis: a pilot study.

Purpose: Over the last years, the number of vertebral arthrodesis has been steadily increasing. The use of iliac crest bone autograft remains the "gold standard" for bone graft substitute in these procedures. However, this solution has some side effects, such as the problem of donor site morbidity indicating that there is a real need for adequate alternatives.

A new suction instrument for spinal surgery.

Objective: Spinal surgical procedures share the technical difficulty of having to preserve the integrity of the dura mater in a surgical field with different degrees of hemorrhage. This difficulty is particularly evident in the surgery of degenerative diseases.

Methods: We have developed a new surgical sucker that allows an easy dissection of the dural sac from adjacent structures and improves the overall surgical manipulation during degenerative lumbar spinal procedures.

Vascular and apoptotic changes in the placode of myelomeningocele mice during the final stages of in utero development.

Object: Myelomeningocele (MMC) is a primary neurulation defect that is associated with devastating neurological disabilities in affected newborns. To better characterize the in utero neurodegenerative process of MMC, the authors investigated the changes in vascular organization, apoptosis, and the presence of inflammatory cells during gestation by using a mutant mouse model of MMC.

Methods: The curly tail/loop tail (ct/lp) mutant mouse model of MMC was chosen to obtain fetuses at different stages of gestation.

Immunocytochemical characterization of astrocytosis along the spinal cord of loop-tail/curly-tail mice with myelomeningocele.

Background: The neurological deficits of myelomeningocele (MMC) have been attributed both to a primary neurulation defect and to a secondary injury of the placode in the intrauterine environment. Since astrocytes are involved in glial scar formation after spinal cord injury, the characterization of astrocyte density along the spinal cord upstream of the MMC can be used as a surrogate marker of the extension of the injury beyond the MMC.

Methods: The curly-tail/loop-tail murine model was applied to obtain newborn mice with MMC.

In utero topographic analysis of astrocytes and neuronal cells in the spinal cord of mutant mice with myelomeningocele.

Object: Myelomeningocele (MMC) is the most severe form of spina bifida causing severe neurological deficits. Injury to the placode has been attributed to in utero aggression. In this study, glial and neuronal cell changes in both number and topography in mice with MMC were investigated during gestation.

In utero meconium exposure increases spinal cord necrosis in a rat model of myelomeningocele.

Background/purpose: The rationale for in utero repair of myelomeningocele has been supported experimentally by the observation of preserved neural function after prenatal closure of surgically created defects compared with nonrepaired controls. The mechanism of injury to the exposed neural elements is unknown. Postulated mechanisms include trauma to the herniated neural elements or progressive injury from amniotic fluid exposure as gestation proceeds.