Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging characteristics: evaluation of prognostic value in the dog as a translational model for spinal cord injury.

Summary Of Background Data: The mechanisms of injury in spinal cord injury in dogs are similar to those in human patients and the dog is considered to be a valuable translational model for new treatment modalities. Studies regarding the quantitative characteristics of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in spinal cord injury in a uniform cohort of patients are lacking.

Objective And Study Design: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the quantitative MRI signal characteristics of the spinal cord in T2-weighted (T2W) sequences, degree of spinal cord compression, and functional outcome in paraplegic dogs with thoracolumbar disk herniation proving the usefulness of imaging before treatment studies.

Microglial contribution to secondary injury evaluated in a large animal model of human spinal cord trauma.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) in dogs is a well recognized animal model to study pathogenesis and treatment modalities of the debilitating human disease. To define the contributing role of microglial cell activation to the secondary wave following SCI, microglia from 15 dogs with SCI confirmed by imaging, gross, and histopathological examination were isolated and characterized in terms of morphology, immunophenotype, and function ex vivo by flow cytometry, allowing single cell analysis. The results were compared to region-specific findings obtained from healthy control dogs.

Regional topographical differences of canine microglial immunophenotype and function in the healthy spinal cord.

Differences in the regulation of surface molecule expression and functional activity of microglia, the resident immune effector elements of the central nervous system (CNS), might give important insights into understanding the predilection sites of some diseases within the CNS. Therefore, canine microglial cells in relation to different topographical regions within the healthy CNS were evaluated ex vivo from the brain, cervical, and thoracolumbar spinal cord using density gradient centrifugation and flow cytometry in a homogenous dog population. Immunophenotypical characterization showed physiological regional differences for B7-1, CD14, CD44, CD1c, CD18, CD11b, and CD11c.