Iatrogenic spinal cord injury (SCI) is the most devastating complication of spine surgery, which usually results in permanent and serious disabilities of patients. Improvement of the visualization and discrimination of the spinal cord is critical for accuracy and safety during surgery; however, to date, there is no suitable technology to fulfill this clinical need. Here, we first show an efficient and rapid fluorescence imaging of the spinal cord in rabbit by epidural administration of a nerve-highlighting fluorophore, i.e. (E, E)-1,4-bis(p-aminostryl)-2-methoxy benzene (BMB). The BMB is firstly encapsulated into polymeric micelles to form a BMB-micelle (BMB-m) formulation with well-dispersion in normal saline solution. After epidural administration of BMB-m, BMB is transported by the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and binds to the peripheral region of the white matter thus facilitating rapid staining of the spinal cord. Furthermore, this BMB imaging technology also holds great potential for visually monitoring the integrity of the spinal cord in real time and promptly identifying acute SCI during spine surgery.

中文翻译：

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硬膜外给予神经增强荧光团后脊髓的快速荧光成像

医源性脊髓损伤（SCI）是脊柱外科手术中最具破坏性的并发症，通常会导致患者永久和严重的残疾。脊髓的可视化和辨别力的改善对于手术期间的准确性和安全性至关重要。然而，迄今为止，还没有合适的技术可以满足这种临床需求。在这里，我们首先通过硬膜外给药神经突出荧光团，即（E，E）-1,4-bis（p-氨基氨基）-2-甲氧基苯（BMB）。首先将BMB封装到聚合物胶束中，以形成BMB胶束（BMB-m）制剂，并在生理盐水溶液中充分分散。硬膜外给予BMB-m后，BMB通过脑脊液（CSF）流动而运输，并与白质的外围区域结合，从而促进了脊髓的快速染色。此外，这种BMB成像技术还具有巨大的潜力，可以实时视觉监视脊髓的完整性，并在脊柱外科手术中迅速识别出急性SCI。