In Brief:
Tensile forces frequently accompany human spinal cord injury, but experimental models of such distraction injury are rare. A model of acute spinal cord injury by distraction of the spinal cord between T9 and T11 is described. Varying distraction length consistently generated a graded injury in animals that had their facet ligaments cut before distraction. According to a modified Tarlov score, open-field test parameters, and postmortem biochemical assessment of serotonin and 5-hydroxy-indole-3-acetic acid levels, animals that underwent distraction at 5 mm/sec for a 5-second duration over 3-, 5-, and 7-mm distances segregated into mild, moderate, and severe injury categories, respectively.
