Morphology study of decellularized rat spinal cord

English Keywords:Spinal cord injury  Tissue engineering  Decellularized spinal cord  Rat

English Abstract:

  【Abstract】 Objective：To observate the morphology of rat decellularized spinal cord and to investigate the its feasibility of working as spinal cord tissue engineering scaffolds.Method：Eleven SD rat spinal cords adopt were processed by the method of freeze-thaw and chemically extracted for the preparation of decellularized and demyelinating spinal cord scaffold material.Two scaffold materials were processed for HE staining to observe acellular and Ponceau Red 2R-Brilliant Green SF staining to observe demyelinating.3 cross-sectional specimens from cervical，thoracic and lumbar sections were stained by Mallory trichrome collagen and observed under transmission electron microscope.3 longitudinal specimens from cervical，thoracic and lumbar sections were stained by Mallory trichrome collagen，and 3 specimens from cervical，thoracic and lumbar sections were observed under transmission electron microscope.Their morphology and inner structure of varied site were observed and compared.Result：The decellularized spinal cord was cream color and displayed flat long strip，with the features of dry，slightly decreased volume and increased flexibility and strength，it had complete superficial duramater and no unusual smell.HE staining indicated no cell in the spinal cord；Ponceau Red 2R-Brilliant Green SF staining showed complete demyelination.Cross-section specimen presented with grid structure in cervical，thoracic and lumbar spinal cord，and longitudinal specimen presented with parallel-tube structure.The grid size and longitudinal distance between the parallel tube of cervical，thoracic and lumbar specimen were compared mutually，the results showed longer diameter of cervical grid than thoracic ones（P＜0.05），and the short diameter of lumbar grid larger than thoracic ones（P=0.05），while no significance remained for the rest.Conclusion：After relative management，spinal cord of cervical，thoracic and lumbar present with complete decellularization，the main structure of the original spinal cords are retained，which is apt to be used as spinal cord tissue engineering scaffold.