OBJECT Regionally delivered hypothermia has advantages over systemic hypothermia for clinical application following spinal cord injury (SCI). The effects of local hypothermia on tissue sparing, neuronal preservation, and locomotor outcome were studied in a moderate thoracic spinal cord contusion model. METHODS Rats were randomized to four treatment groups and data were collected and analyzed ...

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS This study investigated the potential for protective effects of human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (UCB-MCs) genetically modified with the VEGF and GNDF genes on contusion spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats. An adenoviral vector was constructed for targeted delivery of VEGF and GDNF to UCB-MCs. Using a rat contusion SCI model we examined the efficacy of the constru...

Spinal cord injury causes progressive secondary tissue degeneration, leaving many injured people with neurological disabilities. There are no satisfactory neuroprotective treatments. Protein tyrosine phosphatases inactivate neurotrophic factor receptors and downstream intracellular signaling molecules. Thus, we tested whether the peroxovanadium compound potassium bisperoxo(1,10-phenanthroline)o...

Although studies have suggested a role for the complement system in the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury (SCI), that role remains poorly defined. Additionally, the relative contribution of individual complement pathways in SCI is unknown. Our initial studies revealed that systemic complement activation was strongly influenced by genetic background and gender. Thus, to investigate the role ...

Worldwide, spinal cord injury (SCI) affects around 500,000 people each year and results in significant morbidity. The primary insult to the occurs at time of initial injury, which may result from a contusion, laceration or more rarely transection. Secondary damage SCI is insidious subacute; it combination an inflammatory response, vascular changes ionic dysregulation. Early clinical interventio...

In a previous study using male rats, a correlation was found between the development of "at-level" allodynia in T6-7 dermatomes following severe T8 spinal contusion injury and the sparing of some myelinated axons within the core of the lesion epicenter. To further test our hypothesis that this sparing is important for the expression of allodynia and the supraspinal plasticity that ensues, an in...

The objective of this study was to compare the long-term histological and behavioral outcomes after spinal cord injury (SCI) induced by one of three distinct biomechanical mechanisms: dislocation, contusion, and distraction. Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to incur a traumatic cervical SCI by one of these three clinically relevant mechanisms. The injured cervical spines were sur...

BACKGROUND Spinal cord injury has been reported as a rare complication of spinal cord stimulation (SCS). A review of the literature shows a very low incidence of neurological injury after spinal cord stimulation trial, implantation and revision. The most common reported complication is equipment failure without neurologic injury. The incidence of spinal cord injury after SCS trial, implantation...