Date of Award

1-12-2016

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.H.K.

Department

Kinesiology

Keywords

axon, injury, whiplash

Supervisor

Azar, Nadia

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

This study investigated the presence of axonal injury within cervical facet joint capsules (FJC) exposed to a high-rate (100 mm/s) tensile stretch. The left C5-C6 FJCs of five anaesthetized goats were subjected to a series of tensile tests in 4 mm increments until rupture (the intact right FJCs served as controls). The FJCs were harvested, fixed in 4% buffered paraformaldehyde, embedded in paraffin, and serially sectioned. FJC sections were immunolabeled for neurofilament light chain (NF-L) and beta-amyloid precursor protein (β-APP). A significantly higher frequency of coupled β-APP/NF-L immunoreactive sections was found in stretched (23.8%) compared to unstretched FJCs (6.3%, p = 0.02). This finding suggests that high-rate tensile stretch is a mechanism for axonal injury in cervical FJCs, and furthers the understanding of axonal injury in the whiplash pain mechanism. The use of the dual immunolabeling, presents a new method for identifying axonal injury in skeletal tissue.

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