A powerful tool for research on spinal cord injury (SCI)

The MASCIS Impactor (NYU Impactor) spinal cord injury impactor is designed to apply reproducible standard spinal impacts to mice and rats. It has been developed and applied for over ten years as part of a rodent spinal cord injury model, and has been used in over 100 laboratories. In addition, over 50% of recent literature on spinal cord injury uses the MASCIS impactor. The recommended operating procedures for most instruments are derived from the Multicenter Animal Spinal Cord Injury Study (MASCIS) model and practical work experience.
The existing MASCIS impactor is now its third-generation product, which has made many improvements compared to previous products. There are currently two models of impactors available. The computer version of the impactor (Model I) can record data. At the same time, the basic version of the Rutgers Impactor (Model II) can also be used for impact only without recording data.
The computer version of the impactor can accurately measure the movement of a 10 gram stick, which falls from heights of 12.5mm, 25mm, and 50mm onto the exposed T9-10 spinal cord after surgery. In addition, the device can also measure the movement of the spine at the impact location. Display the trajectory of the falling stick and measure the impact velocity (ImpV), spinal cord compression distance (Cd), spinal cord compression time (Ct), and spinal cord compression rate (Cr). These impact parameters themselves are correlated, as well as with other spinal cord injury values such as tissue Na, K concentrations, and motor recovery locator recovery (BBB score).
The impact of mice and rats requires a clamping system. We also need a CS tie.

Model II

Model I

references
1:Serial changes in bladder, locomotion, and levels of neurotrophic factors in rats with spinal cord contusion.

Hyun JK, Lee YI, Son YJ, Park JS.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea.rhhyun@dankook.ac.kr

2:A re-assessment of minocycline as a neuroprotective agent in a rat spinal cord contusion model.

Pinzon A, Marcillo A, Quintana A, Stamler S, Bunge MB, Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD.
Brain Res. 2008 Dec 3; 1243:146-51. Epub 2008 Sep 24.

3 :The role of cation-dependent chloride transporters in neuropathic pain following spinal cord injury.

Cramer SW, Baggott C, Cain J, Tilghman J, Allcock B, Miranpuri G, Rajpal S, Sun D, Resnick D.
Mol Pain. 2008 Sep 17; 4:36.

4:Novel combination strategies to repair the injured mammalian spinal cord.

Bunge MB.
J Spinal Cord Med. 2008; 31(3):262-9. Review.

5:A re-assessment of erythropoietin as a neuroprotective agent following rat spinal cord compression or contusion injury.

Pinzon A, Marcillo A, Pabon D, Bramlett HM, Bunge MB, Dietrich WD.
Exp Neurol. 2008 Sep; 213(1):129-36. Epub 2008 Jul 14.

6:B1 and TRPV-1 receptor genes and their relationship to hyperalgesia following spinal cord injury.
DomBourian MG, Turner NA, Gerovac TA, Vemuganti R, Miranpuri GS, Türeyen K, Satriotomo I, Miletic V, Resnick DK.
Spine. 2006 Nov 15; 31(24):2778-82.

7:Endothelial cell loss is not a major cause of neuronal and glial cell death following contusion injury of the spinal cord.
Casella GT, Bunge MB, Wood PM.
Exp Neurol. 2006 Nov; 202(1):8-20. Epub 2006 Jul 26.

8:Recovery of function following grafting of human bone marrow-derived stromal cells into the injured spinal cord.
Himes BT, Neuhuber B, Coleman C, Kushner R, Swanger SA, Kopen GC, Wagner J, Shumsky JS, Fischer I.
Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2006 Jun; 20(2):278-96.

9:Mechanical and cold allodynia in a rat spinal cord contusion model.
Yoon YW, Dong H, Arends JJ, Jacquin MF.
Somatosens Mot Res. 2004 Mar; 21(1):25-31.

10:Spinal cord contusion models.
Young W.
Prog Brain Res. 2002; 137:231-55. Review.