Research on axonal regeneration and repair following spinal cord injury (SCI) remains a key focus and challenging frontier in neuroscience. Animal models of SCI are mainly categorized into incomplete injury and complete injury types. In adult mammals, spinal cord hemisection is limited by the compensatory effect of contralateral intact nerve fibers and inconsistent surgical severance. Such confounding factors compromise experimental reproducibility and interfere with the evaluation of functional recovery after spinal cord injury. By contrast, complete spinal cord injury serves as a stable and reliable model, commonly established via total spinal cord transection. In this procedure, the spinal cord is fully transected with a sharp blade along the inner vertebral canal wall, eliminating the drawbacks of hemisection. All paralyzed manifestations are directly attributed to primary spinal cord transection. Functional recovery is entirely dependent on the extent of endogenous nerve repair and axonal regeneration. Accordingly, the rat model of complete spinal cord transection is an ideal experimental tool for investigating the mechanisms underlying spinal cord injury and repair.

SD rats (female, 220–250 g)
Modeling method: After exposing the spinal cord, a Kirschner wire was dropped freely from a height of 6 cm to deliver impact injury to the spinal cord. Successful modeling was confirmed by obvious tail flick reflex, hindlimb twitching followed by flaccid paralysis, and spinal cord congestion without mucosal rupture.
Evaluation indexes: BBB locomotor score and HE staining.

BBB locomotor function score

Spinal cord tissue HE staining