Browse the latest research summaries in the field of spinal cord injury for spinal cord injury patients and caregivers.
Showing 91-100 of 7,812 results
J Physiol, 2012 • May 28, 2012
The study presents a novel glass window implantation method for chronic in vivo spinal cord imaging in mice, enabling repeated, high-resolution microscopy without repeated surgeries. The implanted win...
KEY FINDING: Implanted glass windows stabilize the spinal cord, reduce motion artifacts, and remain clear for extended periods.
JOURNAL OF NEUROTRAUMA, 2012 • August 10, 2012
The study evaluated the efficacy of dissociated predegenerated nerve (dPDN) transplants in promoting spinal cord regeneration and functional recovery in rats with spinal cord injuries, comparing them ...
KEY FINDING: dPDN grafts survive within the injured spinal cord and promote the ingrowth of axons to a similar extent as purified Schwann cell (SC) grafts.
The Journal of Neuroscience, 2012 • June 13, 2012
This study investigated the efficacy of combinatorial treatments in promoting motor axonal regeneration after partial and complete spinal cord transections in rats. The treatments included cAMP inject...
KEY FINDING: Combinatorial treatment with cAMP injections, bone marrow stromal cell grafts, and BDNF gradients resulted in motor axon regeneration beyond both C5 hemisection and T3 complete transection sites in rats.
PLoS ONE, 2012 • June 20, 2012
This study demonstrates that intravenous administration of MSCs improves functional recovery in rats after spinal cord injury. The beneficial effects of MSCs are likely mediated by paracrine mechanism...
KEY FINDING: Intravenously grafted MSCs induced an early improvement in open field and grid navigation scores in rats with spinal cord injuries.
J. Cell. Mol. Med., 2012 • November 1, 2012
This review highlights promising clinical approaches to promote spinal cord regeneration, including those in clinical trials, but notes that axonal re-growth is modest, even with cleared inhibitory cu...
KEY FINDING: Cell-based therapy for SCI can replace lost cellular elements, including neurons and oligodendrocytes, which form myelin sheaths around axons.
Exp Neurol, 2012 • October 1, 2012
This review focuses on CSPG-mediated inhibition and CSPG receptors identified recently, as severed axons in adult mammals do not regenerate appreciably after central nervous system (CNS) injury due to...
KEY FINDING: Two members of the LAR phosphatase subfamily, PTPσ and LAR, are functional receptors that bind CSPGs with high affinity and mediate CSPG inhibitory effects.
Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 2012 • August 1, 2012
This study investigates the role of pericytes in the blood–spinal cord barrier (BSCB). It demonstrates that pericyte coverage and number are reduced in spinal cord capillaries compared to the brain, p...
KEY FINDING: Spinal cord capillaries, especially in the anterior horn, have fewer pericytes compared to brain capillaries in wild-type mice.
Cell Cycle, 2012 • September 1, 2012
The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway plays an important role in multiple cellular functions, such as cell metabolism, proliferation and survival. SCI involves multiple pathophysi...
KEY FINDING: Inhibition of mTOR reduces cell death in damaged neural tissue following SCI.
PNAS, 2012 • September 4, 2012
This study investigates the role of Wnt signaling in limiting the regenerative potential of sensory axons in the spinal cord following a conditioning lesion. The research demonstrates that blocking Wn...
KEY FINDING: Peripheral conditioning injury induces the expression of the repulsive Wnt receptor Ryk in sensory neurons.
Biomaterials, 2014 • May 1, 2014
The study identifies PTEN antagonist peptides (PAPs) that selectively block PTEN, a negative regulator of axon growth, by targeting its critical functional domains. Systemic administration of PAPs aft...
KEY FINDING: Systemic administration of PTEN antagonist peptides (PAPs) stimulated the growth of descending serotonergic fibers in the caudal spinal cord of adult mice after dorsal over-hemisection injury.