Hemodynamics in the skeletal muscles and temperature response after spinal cord injury (an experimental study)

The study purpose consisted in studying the dynamics of blood circulation in the muscles of distal segments of the pelvic limbs, as well as studying the temperature response after contusion injury of the spinal cord in small laboratory animals. Wistar female rats (n = 24) at the age of 8-10 months underwent modeling the spinal cord contusion injury of medium severity at the level of ТhIX. The dynamics of circulation in the muscles of the right and left leg, as well as local temperature response was studied on the body symmetrical parts. Both the changes in the body overall temperature and the dynamics of heart rate were evaluated. The experiment duration was 90 days. The following was revealed: the signs of heart rate change - towards its decrease; the disorder of thermoregulation processes was recorded throughout the experiment in the form of pronounced hyperthermia; the blood circulation in the leg muscles after one month of the experiment proceeded according to the hypokinetic type, which was subsequently changed to the hypertonicity of both large and small arteries. The disorders of venous outflow were not observed in this experiment. Locally, the changes of the temperature response and the functional vascular properties were more pronounced in the left limb.