Circular RNA expression alteration in rats after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI)

To determine whether the expression levels of circular RNAs were altered and lay a foundation for future work, we used high-throughput microarray analysis to screen circular RNAs expression patterns in the spinal cord of adult rats after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), finally to evaluate the potential rat models as a platform for the development of novel therapeutic targets for spinal cord injury in future clinical studies. Overall six rats at 3 days post-SCI in two groups were used to perform the microarray. Six rats were randomly assigned to two groups: rats in the sham control group (n=3) were treated with laminectomy alone without contusion; rats in the SCI group (n=3) were subjected to laminectomy plus contusion. Rats were anesthetized at 3 days post-SCI, and a 1cm long segment of spinal cord, including the injury epicenter, was dissected and collected for the experiment.