spinalize

English

Etymology

From spinal +‎ -ize.

Verb

spinalize (third-person singular simple present spinalizes, present participle spinalizing, simple past and past participle spinalized)

1. (medicine, transitive) To surgically separate the spinal cord of (an animal) from the brain.
   • 2008, Mark L. Latash, Neurophysiological Basis of Movement‎:

     Such procedures may involve surgically separating the spinal cord from the brain. In this case, the animal is called spinalized or a spinal preparation. If we assume that every volitional act comes from the brain, then in a spinalized animal all muscle reactions to external stimuli are apparently reflexes, because signals from the brain cannot reach the spinal cord.

   • 2012, James Tresilian, Sensorimotor Control and Learning: An Introduction to the Behavioral Neuroscience of Action‎:

     An injury that results in complete spinal transection at the thoracic or cervical level has the same effect as the surgical procedure used to spinalize animals for use in experiments.

   • 2014, Shih-Chii Liu, Event-Based Neuromorphic Systems‎, page 94:

     This conceptual experiment can be physically demonstrated by decerebrating or spinalizing an animal and using a neuromuscular blockade or deafferentiation to remove rhythmic sensory feedback.

Related terms

• spinalization