NEURORESTORATION: FUTURE PERSPECTIVE IN REHABILITATION OF CHRONIC SPINAL CORD INJURIES

• Main Authors: Ioana Stanescu, Gabriela B. Dogaru
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Romanian Association of Balneology, Editura Balneara 2016-02-01
• Series: Balneo Research Journal
• Subjects: spinal cord injury; neurorestoration; cell therapy; functional outcome
• Online Access: http://bioclima.ro/balneo114.pdf

ABSTRACT Traumatic spinal cord injury leads to severe and mostly irreversible neurological deficits that alter physical status and quality of life of affected patients. The goals of classical therapeutical approaches in SCI are to improve functional level, decrease secondary morbidity and enhance health-related quality of life. Neurorestoratology is a new neuroscience discipline that studies replacement of impaired nervous components through neural regeneration, neuroplasticity, neuroprotection and neuromodulation. Over the past years, various neurochemical and cellular repair strategies have been evaluated in experimental models of SCI for their efficacy in promoting neuroplasticity, axon regeneration, remyelination, and re-establishment of spinal circuitry to improve motor recovery following injury. These neurorestorative strategies are safe and feasibl, have good preclinical results, being under way to be translated into clinical studies, enabling patients with chronic SCI to get benefits in the future.