Abstract
Reversible spinal cord injury (SCI) at C6 level in rats, produced by the weight-placed method, resulted in a severe motor functional deficit initially, followed by a gradual recovery. During the recovery, choline acetyltransferase (CAT) distribution in the cervical spinal cord was investigated at 2, 4, 7, 14 and 28 days after the injury by quantitative immunohistochemistry with a fluorescence microphotometry system. At C6 level, the flourescence intensity of the ventrolateral anterior horn (VLAH), which reflected the concentration of CAT, decreased to approximately 50% of that of the sham-operated group at 2 days. It then recovered to 60% at 4 days after the injury, and remained unchanged thereafter. Fluorescence intensities in VLAH at C4–5 and C7–8 levels decreased to approximately 60–70% at 2 days after the injury, but it recovered and increased to 110–130% thereafter.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Allen A R (1911) Surgery of experimental lesion of spinal cord equivalent to crush injury of fracture dislocation of spinal column. JAMA 57: 878–880.
Kobrine A I, Evans D E, Rizzoli H (1978) Correlation of spinal cord blood flow and function in experimental compression. Surg Neurol 10: 54–59.
Sandler A N, Tator C H (1976) Effect of acute spinal cord compression injury on regional spinal blood flow in primates. J Neurosurg 45: 660–676.
Tarlov I M, Klinger H, Vitale S (1953) Spinal cord compression studies. Experimental techniques to produce acute gradual compression. Arch Neurol Psychiatry 70: 813–819.
Rivlin A S, Tator C H (1978) Effect of duration of acute spinal cord compression in a new acute cord injury model in the rat. Surg Neurol 10: 39–43.
Croft T J, Brodkey J S, Nulsen F E (1972) Reversible cord trauma: a model for electrical monitoring of spinal cord function. J Neurosurg 36: 402–406.
McCaman R E, MaCaman M W (1976) In: Goldberg AM, Hanin I, editors. Biology of Cholinergic Function. Raven, New York: 485.
Rivlin A S, Tator C H (1977) Objective clinical assessment of motor function after experimental spinal cord injury in the rat. J Neurosurg 47: 577–581.
Sutoo D, Akiyama K, Yabe K, Nishida N (1991) Quantitative immunohistochemical distribution of choline acetyltransferase in the rostral forebrain of the rat. Neurosci Res 11: 63–70.
Bruce G, Wainer B H, Hersh L B (1985) Immunoaffinity purification of human choline acetyltransferase: comparison of the brain and placental enzymes. J Neurochem 45: 611–620.
Armstrong D M, Bruce G, Hersh L B, Terry R D (1986) Choline acetyltransferase immunoreactivity in neuritic plaques of Alzheimer brain. Neurosci Lett 71: 229–234.
Sutoo D, Akiyama K, Maeda I (1988) The development of high sensitivity and high linearity fluorescence microphotometry system for distribution analysis of neurotransmitter in the brain. Folia Pharmacol Jpn 91: 173–180.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nakamura, M., Fujimura, Y., Yato, Y. et al. Changes in choline acetyltranferase distribution in the cervical spinal cord after reversible cervical spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 32, 752–758 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1994.121
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1994.121