A modified ferric tannate method for visualizing a blood vessel and its usage in the study of spinal cord injury

Abstract

Study design: To develop a method for the study of spinal cord injury (SCI) that can visualize the blood vessels and is compatible with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and immunohistochemical techniques. Objective: Visualization of the vascular changes is important for the study of SCI. The original ferric tannate method can stain the spinal cord vasculature to its terminals, but the diffuse tannate precipitates spoil the delicacy of the picture. More importantly, it is incompatible with HE staining and immunohistochemical techniques, which is crucial for the study of SCI. We thus aimed to develop a modified ferric tannate method that could meet the requirement for the study of SCI. Setting: This study was carried out in China. Methods: The original ferric tannate method involves a two-step procedure: intravascular perfusion of tannic acid, followed by soaking the tissue sections in a solution of ferric chloride. In the modified method both chemicals were delivered through perfusion. Results: In the original method, diffuse ferric tannate precipitates blurred the profile of the vessels. More importantly, it was incompatible with either HE or immunostaining methods. Our modified method stained the blood vessels with clean background and was compatible with both HE staining and immunohistochemical techniques. Conclusion: The modified method is far superior to the original method and meets the requirement for the study of SCI.

Effect of norepinephrine on spinal cord blood flow and parenchymal hemorrhage size in acute-phase experimental spinal cord injury

“…After SCI, ischemia is most severe at the epicenter of the injury, which is surrounded by an area of decreased spinal cord blood flow (SCBF) [6,7]. This area is similar to the penumbra zone surrounding the necrotic core in ischemic stroke [8].…”

Protective effects of Batroxobin on spinal cord injury in rats

“…Our previous study demonstrated that an ischemic zone occurs at the front of the expending secondary injury [9] , and this triggers the advance of the …”

“…In the zone adjacent to the injury, most of the neurons have degenerated or disappeared, whereas in the farther zone, although there are clear signs of ischemia, the morphology of the Nissl bodies appears not much changed, indicating that these neurons can be rescued by improving the blood flow [9] . This explains the finding by Johnson et al that fluarizine, a vasodilator, ameliorates ischemia in the cord and enhances neurological recovery in rabbits [10] .…”

Rat model of spinal cord injury preserving dura mater integrity and allowing measurements of cerebrospinal fluid pressure and spinal cord blood flow

“…The same probe that emits the beam receives the reflected part of the beam. Two probes (Probe 407 Small Straight Probe with Miniholders, Wavelength 780 nm, Perimed Ò , Lyon, France) were placed at a distance of 4 mm from the trauma epicentre, one rostrally and the other caudally, for SCBF measurement in the ischaemic penumbra zone surrounding the epicenter [4,21] (Fig. 2).…”