Spinal cord injury: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic interventions

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe condition leading to high disability rates due to complex pathological mechanisms and the challenges of neural regeneration in the central nervous system. New research, utilizing single-cell sequencing and spatial transcriptome analysis, reveals interactions between immune and neural cell responses after SCI. Current strategies focus on creating intermediate neural networks using bioactive materials and stem cells to promote neural circuit reconstruction, with some approaches entering clinical trials.

• 1
  Single-cell RNA sequencing has identified latent lineage potential in neural stem cells (NSCs) in the spinal cord's ependymal region to differentiate into oligodendrocytes by regulating OLIG2 expression.
• 2
  Temporal molecular and cellular changes occur in crush-injured adult mouse spinal cord, with most dynamic changes occurring at 3 days post-injury and prolonged alterations observed even at day-38.
• 3
  Microglia, traditionally seen as detrimental, can play key roles in SCI repair by participating in corralling and glial scarring, which reduces parenchymal immune infiltrates and reduces apoptosis of neurons and oligodendrocytes.