Plasticity of the Injured Spinal Cord

Complete spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to permanent motor, sensitive and sensory deficits. In humans, there is currently no therapy to promote recovery and the only available treatments include surgical intervention to prevent further damage and symptomatic relief of pain and infections in the acute and chronic phases, respectively. Recent discoveries have shed new light on the intrinsic functional plasticity and endogenous recovery potential of the spinal cord. In this review, we will address the different aspects that the spinal cord plasticity can take on. The increasing knowledge regarding the microenvironment after SCI could in the near future bring new potential therapies. Several limitations still need to be overcome.

• 1
  Axonal regrowth can occur even after complete SCI, challenging the classical view of the spinal cord as nonregenerative.
• 2
  The "glial" scar, traditionally seen as a barrier, is composed of diverse cellular populations, each with specific roles after SCI.
• 3
  Modulating the injured spinal cord microenvironment, particularly the lesion scar composition, can promote axonal regrowth and functional recovery.