Strategies and prospects of effective neural circuits reconstruction after spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to loss of motor or sensory function, creating economic and emotional burdens. While many strategies exist, effective regenerative therapy is lacking. Significant progress has been made in gene regulation, cell transplantation, biomaterial repair, and neural signal stimulation. Combinatorial therapies, combining biomaterials, stem cells, growth factors, drugs, and exosomes, have shown promise in neural circuit reconstruction and functional recovery. However, axon regeneration alone is insufficient for meaningful functional recovery. Rehabilitation exercises, including exercise training, electrical stimulation, and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), are crucial for the formation and remodeling of functional neural circuits, leading to functional recovery after SCI.

• 1
  Gene regulation of neural regeneration, cell or cell-derived exosomes and growth factors transplantation, repair of biomaterials, and neural signal stimulation lead to axonal regeneration and neural circuit reconstruction.
• 2
  The formation and remodeling of functional neural circuits depend on rehabilitation exercises, such as exercise training, ES and BCIs.
• 3
  Combinatorial therapies have been demonstrated to be more effective and lead to better neural circuits reconstruction and functional recovery after SCI.