Experimental Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury - Tissue-Protective Cytokines: Methods and Protocols - page 101

7. Temporary aneurysm clips with a closing force of 53 × g , and a
clip applier.
8. Heating pad.
9. Sterile syringes and sterile needles.
10. Impactors:
Mice: Ohio State University Impactor. -

- Rats: New York University Impactor, Ohio State University

Impactor.
11. Rectal temperature: rectal thermistor.
12. Skin disinfectant: povidone-iodine-based disinfectant.
13. Analgesic: buprenorphine.
14. Local anesthetic: 0.5% bupivacaine.
15. Antibiotic: 25 mg/ml imipenem.

3 Methods

3.1 Anesthesia

1. Rats: Anesthesia is induced by placing rats in the anesthesia cham-
ber with 5% isoflurane in 100% oxygen flow for 3-5 min. Then, it
is transferred onto a heating pad and i.p. injection of 40 mg/kg
thiopental sodium was used for the maintenance of anesthesia.
2. Mice: The mouse is induced in the anesthesia chamber with 3%
isoflurane in 100% oxygen for 3-5 min. It is then transferred onto
a heating pad. Maintenance can be accomplished by either 1.5%
isoflurane or i.p. injection of 312.5 mg/kg tribromoethanol.
3. Temperature probe is inserted into the rectum and the tem-
perature is maintained at 36.5-37.5°C by a heating pad.

1. Antibiotics and Analgesics: Preoperatively, imipenem is admin-
istered in the dosage of 10 mg/kg for both rats and mice by
intramuscular route once daily for prophylaxis of infection.
Buprenorphine analgesic is given in the dosage of 0.1 mg/kg
(rats) and 1 mg/kg (mice) by subcutaneous route twice daily
for 3 days starting on the day of surgery.
2. Laminectomy: The animals were positioned in the prone posi-
tion and surgery performed under sterile conditions. After
infiltration of the skin (bupivacaine 0.25%), paravertebral mus-
culature was separated from the spinous processes to expose
the vertebral column through a 2-cm skin incision (Fig. 1 ).
Commonly, under microscopic magnification and illumination
Th8-9 laminectomy without causing injury to the dural sac is
preferred for inducing trauma, but Th3 lamninectomy is also
used, especially during clip compression technique (Fig. 2 ).

3.2 Surgery