A Contusion Model of Severe Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

The contributing authors for this video are Dr.VOR Krishna, chief resident physician in the Department of Neuroscience, division of Neurosurgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, Dr.Mark Kendi, professor of neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina, and career scientist at the South Carolina VA Medical Center, and Hampton Andrews, a second year student in the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. This video will demonstrate the preparation of an animal in sterile field for surgery, the surgical procedure itself and the methods of post-surgical care. First, all surgical instruments and supplies must be autoclave prior to setting up the surgical field.

If you're performing more than one procedure, be sure to autoclave additional sets of instruments for each animal. Next, clean the surgical area and all components with alcohol wipes. Once the surgical field is prepared, lay out all your surgical instruments on a sterile drape.