Effect of expansive duraplasty on spinal cord injury in rat model

Objective:To explore the effect of expansive duraplasty on spinal cord injury in rat model.Methods:The 42 adult SD rats were randomly divided into contusion injury group(control group),durotomy group and expansive duraplasty group,each group included 12 rats and the remaining 6 rats were used to create dural allograft.The function of the hind limbs of the animals was evaluated by BBB score.Hematoxylin-eosin(HE)staining was employed for lesion volume measurements,Luxol Fast Blue(LFB)staining were used for white matter sparing and Immunohistochemistry(IHC)analysis was performed to detect the glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP)expression.Results:The BBB scores of rats in expansive duraplasty group were higher in comparison with contusion injury group on day 7 and 21 after surgery,the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05),the BBB scores of rats in expansive duraplasty group were higher in comparison with durotomy group on day 14 and 28 after surgery,the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05);lesion volume measurements showed a decrease in expansive duraplasty group relative to contusion injury group,and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05),analysis of Integrated Optical Density(IOD)values showed that white matter sparing was higher in expansive duraplasty group compared with contusion injury group and durotomy group,and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.01),the average number of GFAP positive(+)cells in expansive duraplasty group was reduced when compared with the other two groups,and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion:Our findings suggest that expansive duraplasty following spinal cord injury may improve motor functions of the rats,reduce lesion volume,inhibit demyelination and reduce connective tissue scar formation.