Porcine Models of Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious condition that can cause loss of movement, feeling, and other bodily functions. Finding effective treatments for SCI is difficult, and one reason for this is that animal models used in research may not accurately reflect the complexities of human SCI. Pigs have spinal cords and cardiovascular systems that are similar to humans, making them a potentially valuable model for studying SCI and testing new treatments. This review discusses the different types of SCI models that have been developed in pigs, as well as the advantages and limitations of using pigs in SCI research. Porcine SCI models provide an attractive platform for the evaluation of promising treatments prior to clinical translation.

• 1
  Porcine models of SCI are of particular interest due to significant anatomic and physiologic similarities to humans, potentially enabling more accurate evaluation of treatments.
• 2
  The porcine cardiovascular system closely resembles that of humans, including at the level of the spinal cord vascular supply.
• 3
  Porcine SCI models allow for the collection of physiologic data to assess response to therapy in a setting similar to those used in the clinical management of SCI.