FIG. 1.

Cervical contusion injury device. (A) Image of magnetic coil shaker, depth adjustment, force, and position sensors. (B) Schematic timeline of the control signal sent to the magnetic coil. Probe tip is oscillated to measure instantaneous force; oscillation is turned off prior to strike. Note: waveform is inverted, compared with actual travel of the probe; displacement occurs from the dorsal surface of the spinal cord toward the ventral spinal cord. (C) Touch oscillation is used to achieve consistent pre-strike force (shown as gray shaded region). Oscillation also can be used to detect aberrant contact with bone (right panel). (D) Representative images of the dorsal surface of the cord two min after injury (or after the touch signal was discontinued for the sham control group). (E) Average position and force trajectories (thick line) and standard error of the mean (SEM; thin lines, not visible in position trace). Dashed lines illustrate lack of force or displacement in sham animals. (F) Average and peak force and position for all injuries (Mean±SEM; *denotes p<0.01 between injury severities; 0.6 mm group, n=6; 0.8 mm group, n=7). Color image is available online at www.liebertpub.com/neu