TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of spinal cord injury using ultrasound elastography in a rabbit model in vivo
AU - Tang, Songyuan
AU - Weiner, Bradley
AU - Taraballi, Francesca
AU - Haase, Candice
AU - Stetco, Eliana
AU - Mehta, Shail Maharshi
AU - Shajudeen, Peer
AU - Hogan, Matthew
AU - De Rosa, Enrica
AU - Horner, Philip J
AU - Grande-Allen, K Jane
AU - Shi, Zhaoyue
AU - Karmonik, Christof
AU - Tasciotti, Ennio
AU - Righetti, Raffaella
N1 - Funding Information:
R.R., S.T., B.W., E.T. designed the work. B.W. performed the animal surgeries. S.T. performed the US elastography and B-mode US imaging. Z.S. performed the structural and diffusion MRI. S.M.M. performed the mechanical testing. C.H., S.T., E.S., S.M.M., Z.S. collected the data. S.T. processed the US, CT and structural MRI imaging data. S.M.M. processed the mechanical testing data. M.H. processed the diffusion MRI imaging data. E.D.R. processed the histologic data. S.T., R.R. analyzed the data. S.T., F.T, C.H., S.M.M., P.S., M.H., E.D.R., E.T., R.R. interpreted the data. F.T., C.H., E.D.R., E.T., R.R. provided administrative support. S.T., C.H., R.R. wrote the original draft. S.T., B.W., F.T., C.H., E.S., S.M.M., P.S., P.J.H., E.T., R.R. reviewed and edited the draft. K.J.G. supervised the work of mechanical testing. C.K. supervised the work of MRI. R.R. supervised the work. R.R., E.T., B.W. acquired funding. R.R., E.T. provided financial support. R.R., E.T. provided the final approval of manuscript.
Funding Information:
This study is partially supported by the Italian Ministry of Health. The authors would like to thank Dr. Fujita Masahiro and Ms Kim Doan (Positron Emission Tomography Imaging Core, Houston Methodist Research Institute, email: mfujita@houstonmethodist.org) for their help in performing the CT scans on animals/samples used in this study. The authors would like to thank the Cardiovascular Pathology (CVP) Laboratory at Texas A&M University for the histologic analysis. The authors would like to thank all members of the HMRI Comparative Medicine Program (CMP) for their efforts in the animal management.
Funding Information:
This study is partially supported by the Italian Ministry of Health. The authors would like to thank Dr. Fujita Masahiro and Ms Kim Doan (Positron Emission Tomography Imaging Core, Houston Methodist Research Institute, email: mfujita@houstonmethodist.org) for their help in performing the CT scans on animals/samples used in this study. The authors would like to thank the Cardiovascular Pathology (CVP) Laboratory at Texas A&M University for the histologic analysis. The authors would like to thank all members of the HMRI Comparative Medicine Program (CMP) for their efforts in the animal management.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2023/9/15
Y1 - 2023/9/15
N2 - The effect of the mechanical micro-environment on spinal cord injury (SCI) and treatment effectiveness remains unclear. Currently, there are limited imaging methods that can directly assess the localized mechanical behavior of spinal cords in vivo. In this study, we apply new ultrasound elastography (USE) techniques to assess SCI in vivo at the site of the injury and at the time of one week post injury, in a rabbit animal model. Eleven rabbits underwent laminectomy procedures. Among them, spinal cords of five rabbits were injured during the procedure. The other six rabbits were used as control. Two neurological statuses were achieved: non-paralysis and paralysis. Ultrasound data were collected one week post-surgery and processed to compute strain ratios. Histologic analysis, mechanical testing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography and MRI diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were performed to validate USE results. Strain ratios computed via USE were found to be significantly different in paralyzed versus non-paralyzed rabbits. The myelomalacia histologic score and spinal cord Young's modulus evaluated in selected animals were in good qualitative agreement with USE assessment. It is feasible to use USE to assess changes in the spinal cord of the presented animal model. In the future, with more experimental data available, USE may provide new quantitative tools for improving SCI diagnosis and prognosis.
AB - The effect of the mechanical micro-environment on spinal cord injury (SCI) and treatment effectiveness remains unclear. Currently, there are limited imaging methods that can directly assess the localized mechanical behavior of spinal cords in vivo. In this study, we apply new ultrasound elastography (USE) techniques to assess SCI in vivo at the site of the injury and at the time of one week post injury, in a rabbit animal model. Eleven rabbits underwent laminectomy procedures. Among them, spinal cords of five rabbits were injured during the procedure. The other six rabbits were used as control. Two neurological statuses were achieved: non-paralysis and paralysis. Ultrasound data were collected one week post-surgery and processed to compute strain ratios. Histologic analysis, mechanical testing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography and MRI diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were performed to validate USE results. Strain ratios computed via USE were found to be significantly different in paralyzed versus non-paralyzed rabbits. The myelomalacia histologic score and spinal cord Young's modulus evaluated in selected animals were in good qualitative agreement with USE assessment. It is feasible to use USE to assess changes in the spinal cord of the presented animal model. In the future, with more experimental data available, USE may provide new quantitative tools for improving SCI diagnosis and prognosis.
KW - Animals
KW - Rabbits
KW - Elasticity Imaging Techniques
KW - Diffusion Tensor Imaging
KW - Spinal Cord Injuries/diagnostic imaging
KW - Lagomorpha
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85171391093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85171391093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-023-41172-8
DO - 10.1038/s41598-023-41172-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 37714920
VL - 13
SP - 15323
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 15323
ER -