Regeneration of the rat spinal cord after thoracic segmentectomy: restoration of the anatomical integrity of the spinal cord.

Segmentectomy of the spinal cord (SC) was performed in 28 rats at the level of the tenth thoracic vertebra. Scar formation at the operation site was studied, along with the completeness of the anatomical integrity of the SC, in control animals (group 1) and after filling of the defect with the neural matrix Spherogel (group 2) and with Spherogel containing embryonic nerve cells (group 3). The defect in the SC in animals of the control group was filled with fibrin masses by 1-2 weeks, while connective tissues scars were already formed by this time in rats of experimental groups 2 and 3. By 10-11 weeks, these animals showed partial recovery of movement in the three lower limb joints. The scar tissue and adjacent zones of the SC showed large quantities of regenerating fine myelinated nerve fibers. These were clearly evident in the zones of the cranial and caudal margins, to the extent of the appearance of typical SC tissue. In preparations obtained from control animals, fine myelinated fibers were noted in the immediate vicinity of SC substance, while nerve fibers were few in number in scar tissue and the cellular bands of the transitional zone.