MORPHOLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF BLUNT SPINAL INJURY IN THE EARLY POSTTRAUMATIC PERIOD

To provide the morphological characteristics of the adaptive capacities of the gray and white matter of the spinal cord after spinal cord injury, an experiment was carried out on white laboratory rats weighing 120-140 g. The experimental animals were divided into two groups. The animals of both groups were subjected to an experimental model of a blunt spinal cord injury. The first group leaved the experiment one day later and the second one three days after the injury. A morphological research of the spinal cord was performed using electron microscopy techniques. It has been proved that even with short-term non-penetrating trauma of the spinal cord; degenerative-destructive phenomena arise in the gray and white matter, into which not only neurons and nerve fibers but also blood vessels are involved. Degenerative changes occur very quickly, and tend to decrease and a transition in the regenerative. The change of phases in the recovery processes is faster in nerve fibers than in precarious. An important contribution to the study of problems of regeneration of damaged spinal cord have such scientists as N.E. Polishchuk, N.A. Korzh, V. Fyschenko, V.P. Byersyenyev, E.A. Davydov, Yа. N. Kondalov, V.I. Tsym-baliuk, V.I. Nevodnyk, N.N. Salkov, V.G. Ryndenko, M. Sh. Wound, A.L. Chernov and others. According to opinion of N.E. Polishchuk, the acute period takes 2-3 days. Manifesta-tions of varying degrees of damage to the spinal cord may be similar in this period due to spinal shock. Unlike to this suggestion, our study showed that the morphological picture in 1 day after the trauma significantly differs from ones in 3 days. In opinion of V.I. Tsymbaliuk the critical stage of cell damage is apoptosis, which occurs under the influence of terminal deoxynucleotide transferase and caspase-3. These enzymes cause delayed apoptosis of oligodendrogliocytes in combination with degeneration of axons in four hours from the time of injury, maximum on the eighth day. According to our results, neurolemmocytes tend to restore function and myelin sheath within 3 days after injury. Thus, because of the research it was found out that, significant destructive manifestations occur in the gray and white matter of the spinal cord in the first days after receipt of blunt trauma and is a rapidly progressive, as in the bodies of neurons and nerve fibers formed their spikes. Comparing the morphological pattern of the first and third day, it should be noted a trend: degenerative manifestations of neuronal bodies last longer than the nerve fibers, nerve fiber regeneration occurs earlier. The data is a prerequisite for the development of clinical practice in ways to improve the processes of recovery after spinal cord injury. Materials expand understanding of researchers and practitioners of reparative properties of the nervous system and ways to influence these processes. Expounded in scientific work material can be used in clinics neurosurgery at the Department of Neurosurgery medical universities and medical academy of postgraduate education and in research laboratories.