Spinal cord reconstruction using NeuroGeltrade mark implants and functional recovery after chronic injury.

摘要

There is currently a lack of effective ways to achieve functional tissue repair of the chronically injured spinal cord. We investigated the potential of NeuroGeltrade mark, a biocompatible polymer hydrogel, to induce a reconstruction of the rat spinal cord after chronic compression-produced injury. NeuroGeltrade mark was inserted 3 months after a severe injury into the post-traumatic lesion cavity. Rats were placed in an enriched environment and the functional deficits were measured using the BBB rating scale. A significant improvement in the mean BBB scores was observed. Rats without enriched environment and severely injured rats with an enriched environment alone showed no improvement; however, 7 months after reconstructive surgery using NeuroGeltrade mark, a reparative neural tissue had formed within the polymer gel that included myelinated axons and dendro-dendritic contacts. NeuroGeltrade mark implantation into a chronic spinal cord injury therefore resulted in tissue reconstruction and functional improvement, suggesting that such an approach may have therapeutic value in the repair of focal lesions in humans. J Neurosci. Res. 66:1187-1197, 2001. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.