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Muscle imbalance as a cause of scoliosis: a study in a fetal lamb abdominal wall defect model

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Abstract

Background

We created abdominal wall defects (AWD) in fetal lambs to investigate possible causes of scoliosis.

Methods

We incised the upper abdominal wall (including Rectus) in 60-day gestation fetal lambs, from the midline to either the right (Group A) or left (Group B) costal margin, in 14 lambs carried by 7 ewes. They were delivered by cesarean section at term (about 145 days). Scoliosis was evaluated by anterio-posterior X-rays, determining the Cobb angle.

Results

Four fetuses in Group A and 3 in Group B survived. There were 3 successful AWD lambs Group A and 2 in Group B. One lamb in each group survived with the AWD covered with a thick capsule. The convexity of spinal curve was the direction of scoliosis. Right scoliosis was only seen in the 4 Group A lambs. Left scoliosis was only seen in Group B lambs (2/3, 67%). The mean Cobb angle was 41.7 ± 11.5° in Group A and in Group B the Cobb angles were 59.6o and 60.6°. Overall, 4/5 lambs with organ prolapse (80%) and both lambs without organ prolapse had scoliosis.

Conclusion

Muscle imbalance may contribute to the development of scoliosis in a fetal lamb AWD model.

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Data availability

The datasets during and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Kevin Pringle of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand for his help with editing this manuscript.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pediatric Surgery, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1, Sugao, Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki, 216-8511, Japan

    Juma Obayashi, Kunihide Tanaka, Yasuji Seki, Hideki Nagae, Kei Ohyama, Shigeyuki Furuta & Hiroaki Kitagawa

  2. Department of Pathology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan

    Junki Koike

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand

    Kohei Kawaguchi & Kevin C. Pringle

  4. Department of Radiology, Capital & Coast DHB, Wellington, New Zealand

    Gianluca Valsenti

Authors
  1. Kohei Kawaguchi
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  2. Juma Obayashi
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  3. Junki Koike
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  4. Kunihide Tanaka
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  5. Yasuji Seki
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  6. Hideki Nagae
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  7. Kei Ohyama
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  8. Shigeyuki Furuta
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  9. Gianluca Valsenti
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  10. Kevin C. Pringle
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  11. Hiroaki Kitagawa
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Contributions

KK conceptualized and designed the study, collected data, performed the data analysis and wrote the manuscript. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroaki Kitagawa.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was conducted with the approval of the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences Animal Ethics Committee Wellington, New Zealand (approval numbers AEC 2-12, AEC 2-14).

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Kawaguchi, K., Obayashi, J., Koike, J. et al. Muscle imbalance as a cause of scoliosis: a study in a fetal lamb abdominal wall defect model. Pediatr Surg Int 37, 1755–1760 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-021-05000-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-021-05000-2

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