Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2022, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (2): 283-291.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.317961

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Delving into the recent advancements of spinal cord injury treatment: a review of recent progress

Joseph A. Flack1, #, Krishna Deo Sharma2, #, Jennifer Yanhua Xie1, *   

  1. 1Department of Basic Sciences, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, USA; 2Department of Biological Sciences and Arkansas Biosciences Institute, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, USA
  • Online:2022-02-15 Published:2021-10-08
  • Contact: Jennifer Yanhua Xie, PhD, Jennifer.xie@nyit.edu.

Abstract: Spinal cord injury (SCI) research is a very complex field lending to why reviews of SCI literatures can be beneficial to current and future researchers. This review focuses on recent articles regarding potential modalities for the treatment and management of SCI. The modalities were broken down into four categories: neuroprotection-pharmacologic, neuroprotection-non-pharmacologic, neuroregeneration-pharmacologic, neuroregeneration-non-pharmacologic. Peer-reviewed articles were found using PubMed with search terms: “spinal cord injury”, “spinal cord injury neuroregeneration”, “olfactory ensheathing cells spinal cord injury”, “rho-rock inhibitors spinal cord injury”, “neural stem cell”, “scaffold”, “neural stem cell transplantation”, “exosomes and SCI”, “epidural stimulation SCI”, “brain-computer interfaces and SCI”. Most recent articles spanning two years were chosen for their relevance to the categories of SCI management and treatment. There has been a plethora of pre-clinical studies completed with their results being difficult to replicate in clinical studies. Therefore, scientists should focus on understanding and applying the results of previous research to develop more efficacious preclinical studies and clinical trials. 

Key words: brain-computer interface, epidural stimulation, exosomes, neuroprotection, neuroregeneration, scaffolds, spinal cord injury management, stem cells, transplantation