@article{ref1,
title="Experimental spinal cord injury: qualitative and quantitative histopathologic evaluation",
journal="Journal of neurotrauma",
year="1990",
author="Finkelstein, S. D. and Gillespie, J. A. and Markowitz, R. S. and Johnson, D. D. and Black, P.",
volume="7",
number="1",
pages="29-40",
abstract="This study involved a morphometric analysis of an experimental model of spinal cord injury. The spinal cords of rats were injured by a weight drop at T8 level. Animals were sacrificed 4 weeks after injury, and histopathologic examination of the spinal cords was carried out qualitatively and also quantitatively with the aid of computer-assisted morphometry. Total cross-sectional areas of residual gray and white matter were determined at five regularly spaced intervals through the injured cord segment. The histologic findings were correlated with height of weight-drop and motor recovery in the hind limbs at 4 weeks postinjury. The weight-drop injury was found to produce a longitudinally asymmetrical cavitary defect, which was better assessed by a series of cross-sectional profiles than by a single histologic cross-section through the epicenter (site of maximal impact) of the cord injury. There was a strong correlation between height of weight-drop and amount of residual tissue (gray and white matter) at the epicenter. A correlation was also found between height of weight-drop and a composite of residual tissue evaluated at multiple levels through the injury site. By comparison with cross-sectional morphometry at the epicenter, multiple cross-sections, reflecting volume of residual tissue in the longitudinal extent of injury, showed greater statistical correlation with functional (behavioral) outcome. This &quot;volumetric&quot; assessment of the total region of injury is therefore recommended as preferable to a histopathologic evaluation limited to the epicenter.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0897-7151",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}