Experimental investigations on the regulation of the spinal cord circulation

Abstract

With 5 FiguresIn our preceding studies on the regulation of the spinal cord circulation under physiological conditions we were able to demonstrate, that, qualitatively, there were no factors different from those governing the regulation of cerebral circulation (Palleske and Herrmann 1968, Palleske 1968). In the meantime these results have been confirmed by Brock (1969). Brock and coll., however, using radio-isotopes, found quantitative differences in the regulation of circulation in various cerebral and spinal regions. For this reason it is of special interest, to discover whether the blood flow in the injured spinal cord is affected in a manner corresponding to that seen in cerebral oedema. MethodThe experiments have been performed in 8 dwarf pigs. A detailed description of the technique was given in part I of our publication. A cold injury of the cord was produced, under otherwise unchanged experimentM conditions, in the region of the lumbar enlargement. A copper-cube (length 10 mm), cooled in a CO2-aeetone mixture, was placed on the intact dura in this area for 30 see and was then thawed off by rinsing with Ringer's solution.Only then were the probes applied to the areas bordering on the lesion and to the healthy spinal cord. We have demonstrated (Palleske, Herrmann and Kremer 1968) that this method produces an oedema which is relatively exactly measurable and reprodueeable, and which is comparable to the oedema most frequently seen in neurosurgicM material. 320 H. Palleske :