Motor evoked potential in cats with acute spinal cord injury.

We have previously reported that a motor evoked potential (MEP) can be produced by transcranial stimulation of the motor cortex in cats and humans. This signal travels in both dorsolateral and ventral spinal cord. We report here the evaluation of this evoked potential in comparison to the somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) in an acute spinal cord weight drop model. In all animals, the peripheral nerve signal was the component of the MEP most sensitive to injury. Often, it was significantly reduced in amplitude by incidental manipulation of the spinal cord during a careful laminectomy and then returned. It was lost first in animals with weight drop spinal cord injury and was abolished with as little as 50 to 75 g/cm of force. The spinal cord signal of the MEP was consistently more sensitive to injury than the SEP and was abolished at about 100 to 150 g/cm of impact. The cortical SEP was abolished at about 200 to 250 g/cm, and the spinal cord SEP was abolished at similar levels. The SEP returned earlier after injury than the MEP. Anesthetic agents had an effect on the MEP in the spinal cord and substantially changed the peripheral nerve signal, in both wave form shape and optimal stimulation frequency. Marginal cord injury and abnormal metabolic conditions caused the peripheral nerve signal to decrement in amplitude with increasing trial numbers during a run and become unstable. These latter effects need further characterization and are critical guides to investigative and clinical use of this test. This study indicates that the MEP is more sensitive than the SEP in detecting spinal cord injury.