Trial to establish a rat model of spinal cord decompression sickness

Objective: To explore decompression profile for developing the rat model of spinal cord decompression sickness.Methods: SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: the control group;the safe decompression group;and the rapid decompression group.In the latter group,decompression sickness models were developed by using 3 different compression and decompression profiles respectively.Then,a thoracolumbar section of the spinal cord was taken and the observation of the pathological changes made by hematoxylin eosin stain.Results: Gross anatomy revealed that stasis of blood and hemorrhagic spots could clearly be seen in the rat DSC model developed by using profile II(i.e. the animals were compressed with air to 1 MPa within 30 s,stayed at that depth for 5.5 min,then decompressed to normal pressure within 50 s).Pathological section also revealed that there was extensive lesion in the spinal cord.Conclusion: For the DCS model rats developed by using profile II,mortality rate was low,and widespread lesion could be seen in the spinal cord.Therefore,profile II could be one of the compression and decompression profiles to develop the spinal cord DCS model.