Role of Stem Cells in Spinal Cord Injuries

Dear Colleagues,

Spinal cord injury is a devastating complication of trauma that often results in various degrees of neurological compromise. Loss of motor and/or sensory function is a sequelae of both the primary spinal cord insult and a cascade of secondary events that include inflammation, neuronal cell death and formation of a glial scar. The pathophysiological events that occur after the primary spinal cord injury serve to create an environment that impairs axonal regrowth and recovery. 

Various regenerative strategies to facilitate functional recovery after SCI have been explored with the goal of promoting axonal regeneration and myelination. Emerging trends utilizing cell replacement strategies have been pursued with the hopes of providing restorative targets to make new connections and/or remyelinate damaged axons. Several promising trials evaluating the effect of transplanting a variety of stem cells or stem cell-derived cells in various spinal cord injury models have yielded promising results. Moreover, the identification of the regenerative capacity of transplanted stem cells and their use in restorative therapies has led to an alternative approach of recruiting endogenous neural stem cells resident in the injured spinal cord.

This Topical Collection aims to summarize the current knowledge on the beneficial role of stem cells in neural regeneration and functional recovery in spinal cord injury.

Dr. Kee D. Kim
Dr. Julius O. Ebinu
Collection Editors

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